If you are shaking Buddhist institutions in Thailand. Woman was arrested on Tuesday for seducing and extorting several monks worth about 10 million euros.
Thai police on Tuesday detained a woman accused of seducing several Buddhist monks and extorting them with threats of disseminating intimate relationships while demanding large amounts of money in exchange for their silence.
The woman, identified as Wilawan Emsawatabout 35 years old, was arrested in the province of Nonthaburi, on the outskirts of Bangcoque, and faces accusations of extortion, laundering of capital and reception of stolen goods.
According to Thai police, quoted by the British newspaper, the money he received was transferred from the bank account of a temple in northern Thailand, controlled by a senior monk involved in a relationship with the accused. Authorities believe that Wilawan targeted high -ranked monks, which for themselves meant more money.
At least nine monksincluding abbots, have already been stripped of the monastic habit. The investigation revealed that several have transferred large amounts after starting love relationships with the woman.
According to police, Wilawan’s bank accounts moved about 385 million Baht (approximately 10 million euros) In the last three years. Most have been spent on online betting sites.
The scandal only surfaced after the disappearance of a abbot from a famous temple in Bangkok. The investigation indicated that Wilawan blackmailed him with a fake pregnancyrequiring 7.2 million baht (about 190 thousand euros) as financial support.
During police searches, they were found on the woman’s mobile phones tens of thousands of Photographs, videos and intimate conversations exchanged with each other and various monks.
Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered a review of the laws related to the financial transparency of the temples and the conduct of the monks, with the aim of restoring public trust in Buddhism.
“When the moral decay of the clergy is in sight of all, it is the woman who falls, while the monks are considered victims,” wrote Sanitsuda Ekachai in an opinion article in the newspaper.
