Wat Dhammakaya had nothing to do with the embezzlement of funds from the Bangkok-based Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative, Phra Sanitwong said.

He also said that the temple staff and the abbot had been told by the cooperative’s former executive and embezzlement suspect Supachai Srisupa-aksorn that he had “borrowed” the donation money from the cooperative and had already returned it. The monk claimed the cooperative’s annual report and auditing results backed Supachai’s claim.He also explained that Supachai wasn’t a major donor, so the amount did not raise enough suspicion for the temple to check on him.

Phra Sanitwong said the temple initially returned Bt684 million of the Bt814 million in total donations to the cooperative because the temple had transparently received and spent donations on the construction of religious sites and could not use other donors’ funds to return to the cooperative.

Later, when the case developed, disciples raised more funds to help the embezzlement-affected cooperative members since the court battle would take too long and affect the temple’s reputation, he said.

This move followed a decision on Tuesday by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI)’s Bureau of Financial and Banking Crime to summon the abbot to testify in person on April 8 over a charge of conspiring with money laundering and taking stolen items in possession.

The charge stems from the DSI’s probe into the recipients of 879 cheques from Supachai worth more than Bt11 billion in total. The other person summoned by the DSI was Sasithorn Chokprasit, whose name appeared on the back of a Bt100-million cheque made out to the abbot. She is accused of helping conceal the crime.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya urged the DSI to go ahead with investigating Phra Dhammachayo in line with legal procedure.

In a related development, eight cooperative members provided testimonies as victims in the case to DSI investigators yesterday, in a bid to have the cheques’ recipients, including Phra Dhammachayo and other Wat Dhammakaya monks, punished.