- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
The Buddhist clergy was engulfed in yet another scandal last week after a senior monk was caught having sex with a woman on CCTV in Thailand.
Phra Wachirayan Wi, the 66-year-old abbot of the 14th-century temple Wat Phutthaisawan in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, was also accused of embezzling £2million intended for his monastery.
The case is the latest controversy to hit the clergy in the Buddhist-majority nation, after a sex and extortion case involving senior monks last year prompted public outrage and calls for greater scrutiny of temple finances.
asserted
case → see → finances
Footage showing Phra Wachirayan having sex on a table in his residence was widely broadcast on mainstream Thai media, sending shockwaves through the country.
asserted
Wachirayan → show → country
In Thailand, Buddhist monks take a vow of celibacy and also renounce material possessions.
But that hasn't stopped the spiritual figures from repeatedly being at the centre of a litany of sex and drug scandals over the years – from being caught by the police with a stash of porn, sex toys and a penis pump, to becoming the targets of a £9million sextortion scheme.
asserted
that → take → scheme
The clergymen have also perpetrated a series of sex crimes against children, including the rape of a teenage girl and possessing child pornography, prompting a wave of growing condemnation for the religious establishment.
asserted
clergymen → perpetrate → establishment
Video grab from leaked CCTV shows senior Buddhist monk Phra Wachirayan having sex with a woman
Phra Wachirayan Wi (pictured) has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling £2million for his monastery, alongside a suspected female accomplice he was caught having sex with
A £9million sextortion plot
In July 2025, a Thai woman was arrested for allegedly recording herself having sex with Buddhist monks and then extorting them for millions of pounds.
Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known as Sika Golf, was accused of blackmailing some of the country’s most senior monks by threatening to publicise photos and videos of them having sex with her.
Police claimed she received close to £9million after officers uncovered a cache of some 80,000 photos and videos allegedly used in the blackmail plot.
But prior to her arrest at her luxury flat in the city of Nonthaburi, just outside Bangkok, Emsawat gave an astonishing interview to a leading Thai news programme.
uncertain
Emsawat → leak → programme
In the conversation, she detailed all her sexual relations with several senior monks, insisting that it was all consensual and that they voluntarily gave her money.
asserted
they → detail → money
She revealed that her first relationship with a religious figure was with the Chief Monk of Phichit Province in 2015, which is located in the north of the country where she was born and raised.
asserted
she → reveal → country
Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known as Sika Golf, was accused last year of blackmailing some of the country's most senior monks by threatening to publicise photos and videos of them having sex with her
One video shared by police shows a monk reclining on Emsawat's arm
He contacted her out of the blue on LINE, Thailand’s equivalent of WhatsApp where they started chatting in a ‘romantic way,’ and became ‘like boyfriend and girlfriend.’
Asked where they had sex, she replied that it was in a ‘kuti’, a traditional hut designed to house monks.
The Chief Monk she was referring to was named as Phra Thep Watchara Sitthi Methi, who was a monk for 40 years but has since left the monkhood following the scandal.
asserted
who → know → scandal
Emsawat revealed that the Chief Monk of Phichit once bought her a Mercedes Benz SLK 200 for almost £70,000, a £50,000 jeep and gave her money whenever she wanted it, often running into tens of thousands of pounds each month.
asserted
she → reveal → pounds
Police claim that of the near £9million she is alleged to have extorted, all of it has gone, and Emsawat only had £180 in her bank account at the time of her arrest.
uncertain
Emsawat → claim → arrest
They allege that she blew most of the money on her lavish lifestyle and online gambling.
asserted
she → allege → lifestyle
She is facing charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods but denies any wrongdoing.
asserted
She → face → wrongdoing
Earlier this year, four Buddhist monks were arrested when a stash of porn, sex toys, a penis pump and an escort list was found during a police raid at their temple in Thailand.
asserted
stash → arrest → Thailand
The religious leaders are said to have violated their monastic vows as they kept the banned items at the Phrom Sunthon Monastery in Chonburi province.
asserted
they → say → province
Police raided the property on January 27, following reports that the monks possessed firearms and drugs.
asserted
monks → raid → firearms
Dramatic footage of the raid shows officers combing through the bedrooms, where they found £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 inside.
asserted
they → show → disc
Three monks also allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine.
uncertain
monks → test → methamphetamine
Dramatic footage of the raid showed officers combing through the bedrooms, where they found a penis enlargement pump
The religious leaders are believed to have violated their monastic vows as they kept the banned items, including a porn DVD, at the Phrom Sunthon Monastery in Chonburi province
asserted
they → show → province
During the police raid, cops also stumbled across £2,070 in cash
Officers arrested Phra Supachai Jantawong, 35, Phra Wirat Mukdasanit, 45, and Phra Thanapol Maison, 59, and the temple abbot, Phra Photisang Taebmuan, who was found to be a Karen national unregistered in civil records.
asserted
who → stumble → records
All four monks have since been defrocked and banned from the religion.
asserted
monks → defrock → religion
Colonel Saksilp Kamnoedsin of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) of Chonburi said the raid was carried out after villagers complained of alleged drug and firearm use on temple grounds.
asserted
villagers → say → grounds
He said: 'The three monks found to be using drugs will be sent to the police and relevant authorities for rehabilitation.
'
asserted
monks → say → rehabilitation
The abbot will be handed over to the police for questioning and then deported to his country of origin.'
asserted
abbot → hand → origin
Alleged drug user Supachai claimed he had been taking meth for around three years 'to manage body pain from diabetes and high blood pressure'.
asserted
he → allege → diabetes
He said: 'It's for relieving nerve pain.
asserted
It → say → pain
When the pain is really bad, I take these kinds of pills.
asserted
I → take → pills
But I only use it for really severe pain.'
asserted
I → use → pain
Authorities said the three monks will be sent to drug rehabilitation, while the abbot was handed over to immigration officials for further investigation.
asserted
abbot → say → investigation
The monk 'caught with child porn' on his phone
asserted
monk → catch → phone
A Buddhist monk was arrested in Thailand over an alleged collection of child pornography on his phone in November last year.
asserted
monk → arrest → November
Chayut, 60, was said to have downloaded a substantial amount of explicit material featuring minors.
asserted
Chayut → say → minors
Police stormed his home in Samut Prakan, on the outskirts of Bangkok, following a tip-off from the United States' National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
asserted
Police → storm → Children
The organisation alerted Thai authorities that a Gmail user in the country was storing illegal images and videos.
asserted
user → alert → images
Police Lieutenant Colonel Sunthorn Thongphongniam of the Thai Metropolitan Police Bureau's Investigation Division collected the data from Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and raided the temple on November 22.
Officers seized the monk's two smartphones and alleged that the devices contained child pornography.
asserted
devices → collect → pornography
The police chief said: ‘The suspect admitted that he downloaded child pornography to gratify his sexual needs.
asserted
he → say → needs
We handed him over to the inquiry officer of Samut Prakan Police Station for further legal action.
asserted
We → hand → action
Chayut was charged with 'possession of child pornography for the purpose of seeking sexual benefit for oneself or others', and 'possessing them for distribution or public display'.
asserted
Chayut → charge → distribution
The monk who raped a 14-year-old girl
In 2018, a Thai court sentenced a disgraced former monk to 114 years in prison for charges including fraud, money laundering and computer crime.
asserted
court → rap → fraud
Wiraphon Sukphon became known as the 'jet set monk' after he appeared in a 2013 YouTube video on a private jet, wearing sunglasses and flaunting wads of cash and Louis Vuitton designer bags.
asserted
he → know → cash
He was defrocked and fled to the US following allegations that he raped a minor, and deceived donors who gave him money to build the world’s largest emerald Buddha image.
asserted
who → defrock → image
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
