Police admonished to verify Vietnam monk’s alleged sex tape

The Buddhist Sangha of the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa said Wednesday it has urged police to verify whether a viral sex tape leaked online earlier this week is of a monk under its management.

The decision was made following a meeting where leaders of the sangha found themselves unable to confirm if the ‘main character’ in the video is T.C.M., Bhante Thich Nguyen Quang, deputy head of the sangha’s management board, told reporters.

A Sangha is a Buddhist community of monks, nuns, novices and laity.

The video clip includes several nude photos of a man, believed to be T.C.M., and a woman, plus a short film showing them making love.

The sex tape went viral immediately after it surfaced on the Internet early this week.

T.C.M., referred to as a Venerable Sir, is said to be the abbot of a pagoda in the province’s famed resort city of Nha Trang, while the ‘female character’ is reported to be an overseas Vietnamese.

“We do not have the clip to check, and also failed to contact the monk, so we need police to intervene,” Quang said.

“Once the police release their conclusion, the Khanh Hoa sangha will handle the case.”

Also on Wednesday, Nguyen Huu Dinh, deputy head of the provincial religion department, ordered that the Khanh Hoa sangha verify the issue and impose proper sanctions on T.C.M. if he is identified as the man in the video.

Tran Son, deputy head of the secretariat of the Khanh Hoa Buddhist Sangha, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper earlier on Wednesday that the monk reported to be the ‘main character’ in the sex tape is only a conventional monk, rather than an abbot of any pagoda, as rumor has it.

“We watched the video and the man looks like that Venerable Sir to our naked eyes,” Son said.

Son added that the very Venerable Sir has had his mobile phone turned off since Tuesday afternoon and could not be contacted.

In October, another Buddhist monk also grabbed media attention after a video clip capturing him unpacking a new iPhone 6 went viral on the Internet.

Venerable Sir Thich Thanh Cuong, abbot of the Cuong Xa Buddhist pagoda in the northern province of Hai Duong, also showed off a fancy lifestyle on his Facebook page.

The Hai Duong Buddhist Sangha then asked Cuong to engage in self-criticism and write a report showing how he repented for his mistakes.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!