Thai woman, 35, 'filmed herself having sex with Buddhist monks and blackmailed them for millions of pounds'
Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known by the nickname Sika Golf, is accused of being involved in secret relationships with 13 monks, as well as money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Emsawat reportedly raked in almost a staggering £9million after using video footage and images of her encounters with senior religious figures to extort money.
Five mobile devices owned by the woman contained clips and stills of her engaged in sexual acts with several monks, some of whom were still wearing their traditional orange robes, according to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), which was quoted in local Thai media.
Currently, nine-out-of-13 monks involved have been disrobed, and the number of individuals involved is expected to increase.
A committee in the senate has now called for sex with monks to be made a crime, but the proposal has angered those who say that men should be held responsible for their own actions.
'The scandal exposes a system of lies and hypocrisy among top monks,' Sanitsuda Ekachai, a columnist for the Bangkok Post, wrote.
'Women have long been depicted in mainstream teachings as "enemies" of monks' spiritual purity… and now, when the clergy's moral decay is in full view, it's the woman who takes the fall while the monks are cast as victims.'
Investigators from Thailand's CIB believe the scandal stretches far beyond moral failings and may involve large-scale financial corruption.
Records from Wilawan's bank accounts reportedly show a jaw-dropping £8.8million in transactions over the past three years. Authorities suspect a significant portion of that came from temple funds.
Wilawan is also said to have blown huge sums on illegal online gambling sites.
Police Major General Charoonkiat Pankaew, who is leading the investigation, said his team is meticulously reviewing each video to identify 'monastic unchastity'.
Respected columnist Ekachai wrote: 'Monks must ask themselves: Why did they enter monkhood? For spiritual training, or to climb the social ladder and gain wealth and power through the saffron robe?
'This is structural rot rooted in a clergy strong on authoritarian control but weak on monastic discipline. It's the bitter fruit of a system that has drifted far from the Buddha's path.'
The case has sent shockwaves through the Buddhist world and raised urgent questions about transparency, discipline, and the growing cracks beneath the surface of Thailand's religious elite.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...ounds.html
Wilawan Emsawat, 35, known by the nickname Sika Golf, is accused of being involved in secret relationships with 13 monks, as well as money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Emsawat reportedly raked in almost a staggering £9million after using video footage and images of her encounters with senior religious figures to extort money.
Five mobile devices owned by the woman contained clips and stills of her engaged in sexual acts with several monks, some of whom were still wearing their traditional orange robes, according to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), which was quoted in local Thai media.
Currently, nine-out-of-13 monks involved have been disrobed, and the number of individuals involved is expected to increase.
A committee in the senate has now called for sex with monks to be made a crime, but the proposal has angered those who say that men should be held responsible for their own actions.
'The scandal exposes a system of lies and hypocrisy among top monks,' Sanitsuda Ekachai, a columnist for the Bangkok Post, wrote.
'Women have long been depicted in mainstream teachings as "enemies" of monks' spiritual purity… and now, when the clergy's moral decay is in full view, it's the woman who takes the fall while the monks are cast as victims.'
Investigators from Thailand's CIB believe the scandal stretches far beyond moral failings and may involve large-scale financial corruption.
Records from Wilawan's bank accounts reportedly show a jaw-dropping £8.8million in transactions over the past three years. Authorities suspect a significant portion of that came from temple funds.
Wilawan is also said to have blown huge sums on illegal online gambling sites.
Police Major General Charoonkiat Pankaew, who is leading the investigation, said his team is meticulously reviewing each video to identify 'monastic unchastity'.
Respected columnist Ekachai wrote: 'Monks must ask themselves: Why did they enter monkhood? For spiritual training, or to climb the social ladder and gain wealth and power through the saffron robe?
'This is structural rot rooted in a clergy strong on authoritarian control but weak on monastic discipline. It's the bitter fruit of a system that has drifted far from the Buddha's path.'
The case has sent shockwaves through the Buddhist world and raised urgent questions about transparency, discipline, and the growing cracks beneath the surface of Thailand's religious elite.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...ounds.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
