The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Royal Thai Police has arrested a woman accused of recording her sexual activities with monks to extort 385 million baht ($9.2 million) from them.
On Wednesday, the Asia News Network reported that the CIB announced at a press conference that the woman, identified only as Ms. Golf, engaged in sexual acts with at least nine monks while extorting money over the last three years.
CIB Deputy Commissioner Police Major General Jaroonkiat Pankaew mentioned the case began on June 18 when the special branch discovered Phrathep “Chaokhun Arj” Wachirapamok, the former abbot of Bangkok’s Wat Tri Thotsathep temple, had left the order after being blackmailed by a woman.
Thai police revealed Ms. Golf claimed to have a child with the monk and demanded more than seven million baht ($215,156) in child support. The fall of Phrathep led to uncovering that other monks were also paying blackmail money to Ms. Golf.
The CIB stated that Ms. Golf had withdrawn almost all the blackmail money, some of which funded online gambling.
The sex tape scandal is the latest in a series of damaging incidents hitting Thailand’s revered Buddhist order. Other recent scandals include the arrest of a head monk for allegedly embezzling $9 million to support his gambling addiction.
Amid a political vacuum due to the suspension of Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, which halted plans for integrated casino resorts in Thailand by 2029, the sex tape scandal has prompted the governing body for Thai Buddhism to establish a “special committee to review monastic regulations.”
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- Source: SCCGManagement.com