At a time when the Catholic Church of Greece is shaken by the scandal with the investigation of the “sacred remittances” in entertainment centers of Patras, one of the two Catholic priests, whose names are involved in the ongoing criminal investigation, broke his silence.

Speaking to Ant1, the vicar in Crete, “showed himself as the administrator of the accounts of the heads of the diocese of Syros.

“Only the bishop commands the account”

As he characteristically stated, “I could not do anything in this account. Because only the Bishop can command this account, I cannot enter and do anything in it. It is (account) in my name, because I am a Vicar here in Heraklion and it should be in my name, but the Bishop is in command of all this”.

At the same time, he explained that as vicar of a Catholic church in Crete, he has accounts in his name, however, because Crete administratively belongs to the Diocese of Syros, all money/remittances and deposits are managed by him [σύμφωνα με το κώδικα κανονικού δικαίου] the bishop of Syros and not himself!

“I’m not involved in anything, I have nothing to do with these things.

It’s written in my name, but I can’t get in, do anything. Is my name there by mistake? Everyone makes a mistake, and in the state there is a mistake. Let’s find justice in court” he said at the end.

Accounts of 2 companies and 5 individuals are blocked

As wrote, the provision of freezing the bank accounts is signed by the President of the Anti-Criminal Activities Authority and concerns companies with activity in Patras as well as natural persons, the majority of whom reside in the Achaean capital.

According to the Authority’s document, the investigation revealed that natural persons who managed the bank accounts of a Private Legal Entity of a religious nature, transferred sums of money to third natural and legal persons without justifying the specific transactions.

As the Authority points out, the amount obtained from the specific criminal activity exceeds 3,000,000 euros, and the five natural persons as well as the two sole proprietorships committed the criminal act of money laundering, confiscate and confiscate the assets of the natural persons of a value equal to the proceeds of crime.

According to the information of tempo24.news the two companies are a sole proprietorship and a limited partnership.

Eight-year stream

As described in the Authority’s conclusion on money laundering, a high-ranking member of the Catholic church and one of his subordinates have been sending large sums of money to 5 people in Patras by bank transfers for 8 years. How much ended up being invested in nightclubs and even gambling agencies to pay off gambling debts.

The main recipient of the money is said to be a night club owner in Patras, who was previously convicted at first instance for blackmailing the Metropolitan with a “pink” video. According to police sources, he had managed to extort approximately 500,000 euros with remittances within 1.5 years, while the amount of money he had received in cash was unknown. The competent authorities do not exclude the remittances coming from the priests of the Catholic Church of Greece in the last 8 years, to be the product of similar extortion.