Tighter controls on temple bank accounts begin in October

A ministerial regulation will come into force on October 1, requiring all public donations and temple proceeds to be paid into the bank accounts of temples and imposing a limit of 100,000 baht in the bank account or personal possession of a monk or an abbot.

All temple bank accounts and personal bank accounts of temple abbots will be audited monthly, to ensure that the spending is proper and to prevent misuse of the money, especially by abbots.

This regulation, coupled with several other restrictions under consideration by the Sangha Supreme Council and the National Office of Buddhism, coincide with a public outcry over multiple sex scandals, in which at least 20 senior monks are implicated.

Most of the cases involve alleged misuse of temple funds or the personal accounts of several senior monks involving a woman, identified as “Golf”, who is alleged to have had close or intimate relationships with the senior monks.

PM’s Office Minister Chusak Sirinil said today that he has been assigned, by the Pheu Thai party, to draft a bill to address financial mismanagement of temple funds by unruly senior monks.

He said that the bill will seek criminal penalties for monks who are convicted of committing disciplinary infractions, such as involvement in sex scandals, as well as the lay men or women involved.

Suchart Tancharoen, another PM Office minister, visited Somdej Phra Phuttha Charn, a member of the Sangha Supreme Council, at Traimit temple today, for a discussion about how to deal with the monks implicated in the sex scandals and how temple funds and public donations to temples are to be properly managed.