Police arrested a former abbot of Phra Bat Nampu Temple and a spiritual medium close to him earlier today, August 26, following the donation embezzlement.
The ex-abbot, identified as Alongkot, and the spiritual medium, Sakesan “Bee” Subsuebsakun, had been under investigation over allegations of embezzling donations intended for AIDS patients. Both were suspected of misappropriating funds for personal gain.
Alongkot initially told the media that he suspected Bee of diverting donations transferred to an organisation he managed. He claimed that Bee’s secretary informed him that Bee had once handed over only 2 million baht in cash from a 2.3 million baht withdrawal from the foundation’s bank account.
Bee’s luxury home and car further fuelled public suspicion, although he consistently denied the allegations.
Attention later shifted back to Alongkot after donations were discovered to have been spent on more than 760 acres of land not owned by the temple or AIDS foundation, but by the temple’s manager and his relatives.
This prompted a deeper investigation into donations in kind, with items for AIDS patients allegedly left unused. A former foreign volunteer also reported receiving death threats for providing too much care to patients, which she claimed led to a decline in donations.
Amid mounting public concern, police assured donors that a thorough investigation into the embezzlement allegations was underway and pledged to prosecute all relevant suspects if evidence confirmed their guilt.
Meanwhile, reports about Alongkot circulated widely on social media. Channel 3 revealed that his real name is Kriangkrai Phetkaew, and that he had allegedly assumed the identity of a man named Alongkot Ponmuk.
Investigators discovered that the former monk used this stolen identity to enter the monkhood and for all financial transactions since. Media outlets suggested the identity theft may have been an attempt to evade military conscription, though officials have not confirmed this claim.
In the latest development, officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) confirmed that evidence linked both Alongkot and Bee to the embezzlement case.
At around 1am today, CSD officers raided Phra Bat Nampu Temple and arrested Alongkot, later escorting him to CSD headquarters in Bangkok for questioning. Bee was arrested at his home at a similar time and also remains in police custody for interrogation.
Officers from the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) will continue searching the temple and organisations connected to the pair to gather further evidence.
Some news agencies reported that police planned to arrest both suspects later today, but a rumour of their escape plans led officers to fast-track the raid.
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