Disgraced Wat Rai Khing abbot disrobbed over B300m embezzlement

As police expand the inspection and uncover more information about gambling sites and those involved, Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, the disgraced priest of Wat Rai Khing in Thailand’s Nakhon Pathom state, has been disrobed for supposedly embezzling 300 million ringgit from church money to gamble online.
At 8.42 p.m. on Thursday, the famous Buddhist temple’s bishop, who is 70, was ceremoniously removed from the monastery in front of a Buddhist memorial in front of a Buddhist statue.
On Thursday, Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, known as” Chao Khun Yaem,” turned himself in to Bangkok officers as they approached him to request an arrest warrant for allegedly extorting money from the church.
The original priest, whose real name is Yaem Inkrungkao, admitted to transferring hundreds of millions of ringgit in 2021 to a second think, a near female associate, during police interrogation.
According to the police investigation, funds were transferred from the monument’s bank account to his specific profile and then to the woman’s. She is suspected of running gaming sites.
A search operation at Wat Rai Khing was led by Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, the deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau ( CIB ), on Friday, expanding the investigation’s scope to find more data on financial connections to gambling platforms.
Officials examined four places, three inside the church grounds and one outside. Their main concern was the original abbot’s religious home, which he also held as chancellor of Ecclesiastical Region 14. During the hunt, the temple’s associate abbot helped police gain access to the original abbot’s residences.

Police searched Phra Thamma Wachiranuwat, the bishop of Wat Rai Khing in Nakhon Pathom’s religious residence on Friday. ( Photo provided/Wassayos Ngamkham )
A laptop, mobile phones, and other electronic gadgets were taken for evaluation, along with some other documents.
According to Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat, the research was intended to identify clues about the money path to another bank accounts, and authorities would awaken those responsible for questioning them. The soldiers may concentrate on cash transactions that were related to online gaming.
According to reports, the original priest allegedly requested a fellow priest to give the adjacent women associate money to add credit to a betting website. The victim’s account was reportedly accessed by at least 31 million baht, despite the disappearance of the other monk involved in the reported embezzlement.
Aranyawan Wangthapan, 28, was detained by police on Thursday in connection with the incident. Prior to being detained last year for allegedly working with the Lagalaxy911 playing website, Ms. Aranyawan was released on bail.
Three businesses reportedly laundered money through this gaming website, according to the woman, were connected to them. Over 800 million baht had been circulated between the three companies over the past five weeks, according to authorities.
According to police, Ms. Aranyawan acknowledged during questioning that she had known the original bishop of Wat Rai Khing since she had attended Wat Rai Khing School. She had initially borrowed 40 million ringgit from him in 2021 for purchase. She had since then gotten in touch with him often via phone and video calling.

On Thursday, authorities in Pattaya detained Aranyawan Wangthapan, 28, a woman associate of the priest of Wat Rai Khing. ( Photo provided/Wassayos Ngamkham )