Origin from 1970
Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a Buddhist temple and modern meditation movement founded in 1970 in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, and generally regarded as the country's largest and wealthiest temple. Its former abbot, Phra Dhammachayo, became the subject of a Thai Department of Special Investigation (DSI) probe beginning in 2016 into a nationwide credit union embezzlement scheme and separate money laundering allegations, fled the temple during a highly publicised 2017 police search, and remains a fugitive. Nearly everything publicly documented about the temple's finances has emerged through that investigation and related court proceedings rather than through the temple's own voluntary disclosure.
Facts
Finances
Institutional Wealth or FinancesThailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) asked public prosecutors to seek court confiscation of about 13 billion baht in assets held by the Khun Yay Maha Ratana Upasika Chandra Khonnokyoong Foundation, a charitable foundation affiliated with Wat Phra Dhammakaya, DSI chief Pol Col Paisit Wongmuang said in a statement reported 3 December 2018, part of the fraud and money-laundering investigation into the temple's fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammachayo. This is a prosecutorial target figure for one affiliated foundation, not a settled valuation of the temple's own total wealth. 1 Institutional Wealth or FinancesWat Phra Dhammakaya's fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammachayo faced a Thai money-laundering charge over accepting embezzled money valued at around 32 million pounds sterling, about 40 million US dollars, reported by IBTimes UK on 16 February 2017 during the Thai police search of the temple. This is a criminal charge amount against one individual, not a valuation of the temple's own assets. 2 Basis of the Wealth FigureCourt-Documented Inventory 2 Financial Disclosure RegimeWat Phra Dhammakaya publishes no independent audited accounts of its own. Nearly everything publicly documented about its finances has surfaced through Thai law enforcement investigations, Department of Special Investigation statements and court proceedings since 2016, not through voluntary disclosure by the temple. 2 Wealth Figure As Of Year Wealth Figure As Of Year Origins
Origin Period FoundedFounded in 1970 in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, as a Buddhist temple and modern meditation movement, generally regarded as the country's largest and wealthiest temple. 2 Evidence
History of the AccusationIts former abbot, Phra Dhammachayo, fled the temple during a highly publicised 2017 police search launched as part of the Department of Special Investigation's embezzlement and money-laundering investigation, and remains a fugitive. 2 History of the AccusationPhra Dhammachayo has vigorously denied the money laundering and embezzlement charges against him, and his followers said in 2016 that he was medically unable to leave Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the explanation offered for his repeated failure to appear before the Department of Special Investigation's summonses. Those denials did not prevent his flight during the 2017 police search or his continuing status as a fugitive, and the underlying allegations against him remain unresolved by any court on the public record. 3 Status
Current StatusWat Phra Dhammakaya remains active today, though its former abbot remains a fugitive from the 2016 credit union embezzlement and money laundering investigation, and nearly everything publicly documented about the temple's finances has emerged through that investigation rather than voluntary disclosure. 2 Controversy
Point in DisputeThe temple's own supporters have publicly disputed the basis for the investigation itself, describing it as politically motivated and saying Wat Phra Dhammakaya was targeted because of its perceived closeness to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed from power in a 2006 military coup. That political framing is the temple side's own account of why the case exists, distinct from a response to the specific embezzlement and money-laundering facts alleged against its former abbot. 4 Learn More
Founded in 1970: Thailand's Largest Temple
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya was founded in 1970 in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, as a Buddhist temple and modern meditation movement. It grew to become the country's largest and wealthiest temple, generally regarded as such among Thai religious institutions.
The temple publishes no independent audited accounts of its own. Nearly everything publicly documented about its finances has surfaced instead through Thai law enforcement investigations, Department of Special Investigation statements and court proceedings beginning in 2016, rather than through voluntary disclosure by the temple. That pattern shapes what can be verified about the temple's finances today: the figures on the public record come from prosecutorial and investigative sources, not from the temple's own reporting.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya remains active today, continuing to operate as a functioning temple and meditation movement more than five decades after its 1970 founding. Its scale, reached within one generation, made it a fixture of Thai Buddhist institutional life. That combination, a temple widely regarded as Thailand's wealthiest whose own finances remain undisclosed by its own choice, has left Wat Phra Dhammakaya about as well known today for what is not publicly known about it as for the meditation practice it teaches.
The 2016 Investigation and a Fugitive Former Abbot
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Beginning in 2016, Thailand's Department of Special Investigation opened a probe into a nationwide credit union embezzlement scheme, later joined by separate money laundering allegations, both reaching the temple's own former abbot. During a highly publicized police search of the temple in 2017, the former abbot fled and has remained a fugitive since.
The Department of Special Investigation's inquiry extended to a charitable foundation affiliated with the temple. Its chief stated in a report published 3 December 2018 that prosecutors would seek court confiscation of about 13 billion baht in assets held by the foundation, a prosecutorial target figure for one affiliated entity rather than a settled valuation of the temple's own total wealth. Separately, the money laundering charge against the fugitive former abbot concerned accepting embezzled funds valued at around 32 million pounds sterling, about 40 million US dollars, as reported during the February 2017 search.
Nearly everything publicly known about these matters comes from the Department of Special Investigation's own statements and the court proceedings that followed, rather than from any public account the temple or its former leadership has offered on the record. The temple itself continues to operate; the investigation into its former abbot remains open, and he remains a fugitive.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Wat Phra Dhammakaya directly: "police to arrest Phra Dhammachayo at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, blocked by thousands of the temple's devotees."
This source names Wat Phra Dhammakaya directly: "the February 2017 Thai police raid on Wat Phra Dhammakaya searching for its fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammachayo, naming the money laundering charge against him."
This source names Wat Phra Dhammakaya directly: "December 2016 Thai police operation at Wat Phra Dhammakaya to remove an unauthorized fence around the temple."
This source names Wat Phra Dhammakaya directly: "seeking court dissolution of the Wat Phra Dhammakaya-linked Khun Yay Maha Ratana Upasika Chandra Khonnokyoong Foundation and confiscation of its assets, quoting DSI chief Pol Col Paisit Wongmuang."
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.