Thailand's infamous "jet-set monk" was convicted of raping an
underage girl Wednesday, a court official said, in a case that has
rocked an already scandal-mired Buddhist clergy.
Wiraphon Sukphon, 39, earned his evocative moniker after footage
emerged of him wearing designer sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a
private jet.
He was extradited back to Thailand from the US last year, accused of
the rape and duping donors who had given him money to build what he said
would be the world's largest emerald image of Buddha.
The girl was under the age of 15 and Wiraphon is said to have later fathered a child with her.
In Wednesday's ruling, which found him guilty of rape and separating
the girl from her parents, the court said he had given the Buddhist
faith a "bad reputation".
"He used his monkhood, which Thai people respect," the court official told AFP.
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Wiraphon's 16-year custodial sentence punishment will be added to the
20-year prison term he received in August after being found guilty of
multiple counts of fraud.
The military junta that seized power in 2014 has taken a hardline
against monks acting outside the law and authorities have considered
introducing digitised ID cards that could track members of the community
with criminal histories.
Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the religion is woven into everyday
life, but drug, sex and financial scandals have weighed on the Buddhist
leadership and forced some high-profile collisions with law enforcement.
In May the abbot of the tourist-heavy "Golden Mount" temple in
Bangkok was arrested after $4 million was found in bank accounts in his
name.
Police are also investigating allegations of financial wrongdoing within the National Office of Buddhism.
And early last year, soldiers raided the temple of the mega-rich
Dhammakaya sect on the outskirts of Bangkok to detain its controversial
abbot on accusations of massive fraud. He eluded capture and remains at
large.
Source - TheJakartaPost
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