Panel to advise Sangha on Dhammachayo
A JOINT committee made up of monks and laymen will be proposed for the prime minister and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief to endorse and then advise on whether Phra Dhammachayo, the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani, should re
The panel’s conclusion would be presented to the Supreme Sangha Council for it to decide on Dhammachayo’s status, Rakkecha Chaechay, the head of the Ombudsman’s Office, said yesterday.
Another panel would be proposed to probe if former Attorney-General Pachara Yuthithamdamrong’s decision not to indict Dhammachayo was legitimate, while a third committee would investigate a former head of the Department of Religious Affairs for his alleged failure to take action against Dhammachayo as per the letters from the late Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara.
Rakkecha said Dhammachayo was dismissed from the monkhood for violating the monks’ code of conduct, according to letters written by the late Supreme Patriarch to the Supreme Sangha Council in 1999.
Dhammachayo agreed in 2006 to turn over assets worth Bt959.3 million, the same year when Pachara decided to abandon lawsuits against the abbot.
