Ayutthaya’s famous royal temple, Wat Phutthaisawan, is in the middle of a massive scandal. The temple’s 66-year-old abbot, Phra Kru Phutthasawan, or Luang Por Chot, was cornered in his quarters and taken away by a large team of police early this morning. According to local media, the respected monk—who pulled in steady streams of donations day after day—was secretly siphoning off more than 90 million baht in temple funds, quietly transferring the money straight into the personal account of a close female follower.
And the financial embezzlement was only part of it. When police searched the abbot’s living quarters, they pulled the security camera footage—and what they saw was shocking. Not only was the senior monk caught up in a long-term affair with the woman, but the cameras clearly showed the pair using the altar table, meant for offerings and meals for monks, as a place to hook up, blatantly engaging in deeply inappropriate behavior right on top of the sacred table.
When the news broke this morning, locals and regular temple-goers were completely stunned. On one side are the hard-earned, pious donations of ordinary people; on the other is a disgraced abbot treating the altar like his personal playground. The sheer hypocrisy has left everyone disgusted. Both the abbot and the woman have been hauled off by the Central Investigation Bureau for questioning, all related bank accounts have been frozen, and the whole thing has set off a massive uproar across the community.
