CIB confirms money trail ties Wat Rai Khing abbot to online gambling

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has confirmed that financial evidence clearly links the abbot of Wat Rai Khing to online gambling.

This development followed the Criminal Court’s approval of an arrest warrant for Phra Dharma Wachiranuwat at midday, just hours after he had voluntarily reported to CIB headquarters in Bangkok at 10am.

According to police, the abbot is accused of misappropriating at least 300 million baht by transferring funds from the temple’s accounts into his own personal bank account. These funds were allegedly used to gamble on online baccarat platform.CIB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej stated that the investigation began following complaints from local residents in October 2024. “We’ve been conducting a financial investigation for some time and discovered irregularities. It was evident that temple funds were being used inappropriately, which led us to seek the arrest warrant,” he said.

He stressed that the abbot turning himself in before the arrest warrant was issued was immaterial, as the evidence had already been fully compiled. The case is now in the stage of evidence gathering and formal investigation, and police have ruled out bail at this point.

When asked how the abbot became involved in online gambling, Jirabhop said the key issue was the money trail. Police had traced the flow of funds and uncovered unusual transfers from the temple to the abbot’s personal account, which were subsequently linked to a gambling website. The transactions, he noted, amounted to hundreds of millions of baht.

As for whether a temple committee member was required to co-sign the transfers, this is still under investigation. He added that officers had been deployed to monitor the temple's internal activities as part of standard investigative procedures.
 Phumwisan Kasemsuk, secretary-general of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), said the investigation is ongoing and still at a fact-finding stage. We cannot disclose too much at this point, as it may interfere with the ongoing inquiries, he said.

However, he confirmed that investigators had gathered sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to justify the request for arrest and search warrants.

CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew added that an audit of the temple’s accounts had uncovered clear financial misconduct. He noted that the investigation was originally set to begin on Friday, but the suspect had surrendered ahead of schedule.

“This case is about uncovering the truth and protecting our religion from fraud and corruption,” he said.

(2025/05/16-00:00)