Wat Dhammakaya on Wednesday questioned the decision of the Department of Special Investigation to charge its financial official, Phra Maha Boonchai Charuthatto, of defying summons for the monk to be questioned.
Phra Sanitwong Wutthiwaso, director for organizational communications of the temple, called a press conference to clarify Phra Maha Boonchai’s failure to respond to the summons and to raise suspicion about the DSI’s action.
DSI issued summons for the monk to show up on July 8 to be questioned as a witness but the latter twice asked for postponement. The DSI then asked the monk again to show up on August 2 but the latter asked to defer the appointment to August 18 claiming that he could not prepare all the relevant documents in time. The DSI rejected and lodged the charge for defying summons with Thung Song Hong police.
Wat Dhammakaya has been cooperative with the DSI in its investigation, citing the case of Phra Thawansak who already reported to the DSI and the acting abbot who agreed to report to the DSI tomorrow.
The temple challenged the DSI’s claim that it had to wrap up the case for submission to the prosecutor within August 11, pointing out that the DSI has made appointments with several other witnesses to testify later this month.
Phra Sanitwong claimed that a monk could not be summonsed in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code and it was the legitimate right of a monk to respond or to not respond to a summons.
