A lady in Thailand filmed herself having s** with Buddhist monks and then allegedly used the tapes to blackmail them.
Authorities have named the woman “Ms. Golf,” and police said during a press conference on Tuesday that she is accused of having s** with at least nine monks over the course of several years.
The Telegraph says she is a 35-year-old, Wilawan Emsawat.
According to investigators, she was able to get about 385 million baht, or about $11.9 million, between 2021 and 2024.
When police investigated her house, they found more than 80,000 pictures and films that they think were utilized in the blackmail plot. This changed the case in a big way.
The episode is the most recent in a string of scandals that have damaged the reputation of Thailand’s Buddhist clergy, a group that the country’s mostly Buddhist people have always held in high regard.
Authorities started looking into the matter in mid-June after hearing that an abbot in Bangkok had unexpectedly left the monastery under strange circumstances.
Later, the police said that a lady the monk had been dating in May 2024 had blackmailed him.
Emsawat is said to have said that she was pregnant with the monk’s child and asked for more than seven million baht in child support.
After looking into it more, the police found that a number of other monks had also sent her money in the same way. They called this pattern her “modus operandi.”
Officers said that much of the money she got had already been taken out, and some of it was said to have been used for online gambling.
Authorities took several phones from her home during the raid. These phones had a large number of images and videos that were allegedly used in the extortion.
Emsawat is currently being charged with numerous offenses, including receiving stolen items, money laundering, and extortion.
The Thai police have set up a hotline for people to report wrongdoing by members of the clergy in reaction to the issue.
The Sangha Supreme Council, which is in charge of Thai Buddhism, said it will establish a special committee to review its rules again.
The government is also suggesting that monks who break their vows face harsher sanctions, such as fines and jail time.
Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn has even spoken out against the issue. This week, he canceled a royal order from last month that promoted 81 monks to higher positions.
The King said that recent bad behavior had made Buddhists suffer a lot in their minds.
More than 90% of Thai people are Buddhists; therefore, monks are respected in society. Many Thai males join the monkhood for a short time to achieve spiritual merit.
But the organization has been in the news for more and more controversies in recent years.
Monk Wirapol Sukphol’s extravagant lifestyle garnered international attention in 2017. Later on, he faced charges of money laundering, fraud, and s** crimes.
In 2022, a temple in northern Phetchabun province was left empty after all four of its monks were captured in a drug raid and kicked out of the order.
Many people claim that reform inside the Sangha has been gradual, even though there is more and more criticism of it. This is partly because of its strict internal hierarchy.
Suraphot Thaweesak, a religious expert, told BBC Thai that it is an authoritarian structure like the Thai bureaucracy, where senior monks are like high-ranking officials and junior monks are their subordinates.
They don’t say anything when they notice something wrong since it’s easy to get tossed out of the temple.
Some people still think that the current wave of inquiries could eventually bring about real change.
Prakirati Satasut, a sociology professor at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, said that the most important thing is to tell the truth so that people can stop doubting the Sangha’s innocence.
The Supreme Sangha Council’s decision to amputate some limbs in order to save the group will determine everything.
Emsawat has not said anything in public.
