Buddhist organisations from several other countries have submitted letters to Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-o-cha requesting his help to bring the problems at Wat Phra Dhammakaya to a peaceful conclusion.
The Theravada Buddhist Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, the Buddhism Today Foundation in Vietnam, and the Bangladesh Buddha Kristi Prachar Sangha Organisation submitted their letters to the Thai Prime Minister requesting his assistance in the case involving Phrathepyanmahamuni, the Abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, for his alleged involvement in the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement affair.
These charges have been vigorously denied by representatives of the Abbot, who question the legality of the charges. For instance, the plaintiffs (KCUC members) should have filed suit with the credit union, not the Abbot; the illogical conversion of the original civil case into a national criminal case; and as admitted to recently by DSI - this case is a duplicate of one already trialed (converting the role of the Abbot from a witness to that of a suspect - without any new evidence) with the results submitted to the Office of the Attorney General.
In their letters to General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha, the three Buddhist organisations state that they understand the accusations against the Abbot are being investigated according to Thai law, and that the government authorities will make a decision on this issue. However, they also ask that the government deal with this case carefully, as the Abbot is now seriously ill, and the manner in which it is handled will affect followers of Theravada Buddhism worldwide.
They also question the motivation and behavior of the officials of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), in their repeated refusals to examine the 72 year-old
Abbot in his medical ward at the temple, and ignoring the health certificate issued by a panel of doctors, while pressing ahead with an arrest warrant.
To see all of the awards visit the Dhammakaya website