An abbot caught on CCTV

Phra Wachirayan Wi, 66, led the 14th-century temple Wat Phutthaisawan in Ayutthaya. Leaked CCTV showed him having sex with a woman on a table in his residence.

Two million pounds missing

The same abbot was arrested on suspicion of embezzling £2million meant for his monastery, alongside the woman police treat as his accomplice.

Footage the whole country saw

Thai mainstream media broadcast the video widely. In a Buddhist-majority nation where monks vow celibacy and give up possessions, the reaction was immediate.

Not a one-off

This lands a year after a sex and extortion case involving senior monks, which already had the public demanding real scrutiny of temple finances.

The woman called Sika Golf

In July 2025 police arrested Wilawan Emsawat, 35, accusing her of filming herself with monks and threatening to publish the footage unless they paid.

Nine million pounds, gone

Police say she collected close to £9million and seized a cache of roughly 80,000 photos and videos. Her bank account held £180 when they arrested her.

Her version of events

Before the arrest she went on a leading Thai news programme and described the relationships in detail, saying every encounter was consensual and every payment voluntary.

It started in a monk's hut

She said her first relationship was with the Chief Monk of Phichit in 2015. He messaged her on LINE, things turned romantic, and they met in a kuti, the hut monks live in.

A Mercedes and a jeep

That chief monk, a monk of 40 years who has since left the monkhood, bought her a £70,000 Mercedes SLK 200 and a £50,000 jeep, plus tens of thousands a month.

Spent on gambling

Police allege the entire £9million went on a lavish lifestyle and online betting. She denies wrongdoing and faces extortion, money laundering and stolen goods charges.

The Chonburi raid

On 27 January police searched Phrom Sunthon Monastery after villagers reported drugs and guns on temple grounds. What they found went well past that.

Pump, pistol, escort list

Officers turned up £2,070 in cash, a pistol, a penis enlargement pump, a contact list of prostitutes, and a DVD player with a porn disc still loaded.

Meth and a deportation

Three monks tested positive for methamphetamine and were sent for rehabilitation. The abbot turned out to be a Karen national unregistered in civil records, facing deportation. All four were defrocked.

Pills for the pain

Phra Supachai Jantawong, 35, said he had used meth for three years to cope with nerve pain from diabetes and high blood pressure, and only when it got severe.

“When the pain is really bad, I take these kinds of pills.”

A tip-off from America

In November last year, the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children flagged a Thai Gmail user storing illegal images of children. Police traced it to a monk.

Two phones seized

Officers raided Chayut's home in Samut Prakan on 22 November. Police say the 60-year-old admitted downloading the material and charged him with possession and distribution.

“The suspect admitted that he downloaded child pornography to gratify his sexual needs.”

The jet set monk

Wiraphon Sukphon earned the nickname from a 2013 YouTube clip: private jet, aviator sunglasses, wads of cash, Louis Vuitton bags. He claimed to be a miracle worker reincarnated.

The Buddha that never got built

He raised donations at his Si Sa Ket monastery for the world's largest jade and gold Buddha, then bought 10 luxury cars. At his peak he was reported to be worth £20million.

114 years, capped at 20

A 2018 court gave him 114 years for fraud, money laundering and computer crime, though legal limits cut it to 20. In October he got 16 more for abducting and raping a 14-year-old girl he impregnated.

Kush in false walls

In April, 22 Sri Lankan monks flew home from a sponsored four-day Bangkok trip carrying 242 pounds of potent cannabis hidden in luggage linings, the biggest such seizure at the country's main airport.

“Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage.”