Somdet Chuang, Thailand's most senior ranking monk, is set to be summoned by the police after he refused to answer direct questions about his 1958 luxury Mercedes-Benz.
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: A tax scandal is rocking Thailand's religious institutions and exposing Thai monks' growing desire for luxury goods.
Somdet Chuang, Thailand's most senior ranking monk, is set to be summoned by the police after he refused to answer direct questions about his rare 1958 Mercedes Benz.
The car that he claims is a gift has now been seized by police as a sign of possible tax evasion.
Somdet Chuang is linked to a popular branch of Buddhism called Dhammakaya, known for embracing material wealth. It's also been dogged by fiscal scandals over the years.
South east Asia correspondent Liam Cochrane has our story.
(Footage of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Khlong Luang district. Thousands of followers sit in meditation. Fireworks are set off at night)
LIAM COCHRANE, REPORTER: When the Dhammakaya branch of Buddhism celebrates, it puts on quite a show. This vast outdoor meditation space, just outside Bangkok, regularly attracts tens of thousands of people.
The glowing centrepiece is made up of 300,000 golden Buddha statues, donated by faithful followers.
DHAMMAKAYA FOLLOWER: The temple has taught me what is the purpose of life, which is to find happiness - inner happiness - which can be achieved through meditation. So meditation is the main focus of this temple.
MANO LAOHAVANICH, DR., FORMER DHAMMAKAYA LEADER: If you combine the two movies, 'The Matrix' and 'Star Wars', you get Dhammakaya. (Laughs)
LIAM COCHRANE: Dhammakaya is a new take on old beliefs: meditation, Buddhist ideals and generosity, all repackaged into a spectacular battle between the light and the dark within us.
PRAYER RECITATION (public address system): May I enjoy good health and a long life span, so that I can pursue perfections for a very long time. May I be replete with great and inexhaustible wealth in every lifetime.
NICHOLAS LIUSUWAN, DHAMMAKAYA MONK: I am Venerable Nicholas. I am from America. I'm 22 years old and I just recently ordained in the Dhammakaya international Dhammayada ordination program.
They do bring up the concept of donations and making merit, but that is, like, a Buddhist concept and, like, it doesn't really make sense that if you give less, you will get more merit. It gives sense that if you give more, you will get more merit.
LIAM COCHRANE: The wealth of Buddhist temples is a hot topic in Thailand.
(Footage of Phra Palat Sitiwat)
LIAM COCHRANE: This monk...
(Footage of a vintage Jaguar car)
LIAM COCHRANE: ...owns this car.
Police are investigating whether Phra Palat Sitiwat paid the correct import tax on his vintage wheels. But some in Thailand say the bigger question is whether Buddhist monks should own such trophy automobiles.
SULAK SIVARAKSA, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: Well, of course, in the time of Buddha there was no Mercedes Benz and so on. But the Buddha walked all through his life, 45 years of his ministry. He even refused to go on elephants, horses and cow, because that is exploiting animals. Monks are encouraged to walk.
(Footage of a row of vintage luxury cars on display)
LIAM COCHRANE: In a separate case, the stakes are even higher. The owner of these museum pieces, Somdet Chuang, is the most senior ranking monk in Thailand. One of Somdet Chuang's vintage Mercedes is also being investigated for possible tax evasion.
But Thailand's top monk has refused to speak directly with detectives, even after they arrived to take his statement bearing gifts of candles and incense. So now police will formally summons the acting supreme patriarch. And if he doesn't turn up, they will arrest him.
But Somdet Chuang has strong support.
(Footage of monks pulling soldiers away from their military vehicle. They surround the vehicle and rock it)
This clash happened when monks gathered to demand his acting role as supreme patriarch be made permanent.
It was Somdet Chuang who ordained the abbot of Dhammakaya, a man known as Dhammachayo. Under Dhammachayo's leadership, a small meditation group with $100 in 1970 has grown into a temple complex 10 times the size of the Vatican City.
That growth has been helped by political support - most notably from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - and also from generous donations.
MANO LAOHAVANICH: So we saw that this community is, just say, a little pump siphoning money into huge account unknown.
LIAM COCHRANE: Dr Mano Laohavanich was once at the top echelon of Dhammakaya, but in the '80s started to question the organisation's fundraising.
MANO LAOHAVANICH: And it found so many families broke down, because there was a wife who became a strong patron to this and she... she pay all the savings.
LIAM COCHRANE: Dr Mano left after confronting Dhammachayo about donations.
MANO LAOHAVANICH: He looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Do you know who I am? If you think I am the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, you are wrong." Very scary, the look that he gave to me. I never forget.
I felt he wants to convince me that he is primordial Buddha incarnated. I couldn't accept that. I couldn't take that. I can work with fallible person, a man who work and make mistake, but I cannot work with God.
LIAM COCHRANE: Over the years, scandal has continued to dog this temple. Seven years ago police filed embezzlement charges against Dhammachayo. The charges were dropped and an order to defrock the monk was also never acted on.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: When Thaksin was prime minister, there was a case of embezzlement of the head of Dhammakaya. The public prosecutor was ready to prosecute the man in court. Thaksin stopped the public prosecutor. In fact, he stopped that illegally. But this case is coming back again.
LIAM COCHRANE: Thai police are reinvestigating the embezzlement claims, but are yet to charge the leader of Dhammakaya.
Dhammachayo declined a request for an interview.
His followers say Dhammakaya has brought them inner peace and happiness. They say the accusations against the temple are borne out of jealousy.
But despite the luxury cars and scandals, there's still little oversight for the finances of Thailand's religious institutions.
