The “CEO monk” who turned the kung-fu Shaolin temple into a sprawling commercial empire has been cleared by local officials of allegations that he funnelled money from religious businesses to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Yellow-robed Abbot Shi Yongxin disappeared for several months in 2015 after he was accused of embezzlement and fathering several children out of wedlock. The allegations created a storm in China, where a religious revival in recent decades has been accompanied by the commercialisation of Buddhist sites.

Mr Shi had been a high-profile promoter of the 1,500-year-old Buddhist institution on Song mountain, whose monks once created elaborate fighting systems and worked as mercenaries. He created a travelling troupe of performing monks that performs for paying audiences around the world, and travelled to Australia to present a $3.8m cheque for land for a kung-fu theme park, complete with a hotel and golf course.