Two top Catholic Church officials in Greece and five nightclub owners in the Peloponnese are being investigated for possible financial crimes, including embezzlement and money laundering, following a report by the anti-money laundering agency.
The investigation was triggered after a routine audit discovered a shortfall of nearly 3 million euros in the Catholic Church’s coffers, which were allegedly funneled as investments into nightclubs.
Charalambos Vourliotis, the head of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, has already ordered the freezing of bank accounts and assets of the five nightclub owners, after submitting the findings to the relevant prosecutorial authority.
Catholic Church’s money in Greece channeled to nightclubs
According to sources, the case dates back eight years, when it was discovered that significant amounts of money were being transferred from church accounts managed by the two priests who are under investigation to accounts belonging to specific nightclub owners, disguised as business investments.
The investigation by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority began after banks flagged several large transactions as suspicious. A months-long, highly confidential inquiry followed. The most recent suspicious transfer, amounting to 50,000 euros, was detected just days ago.
The bank accounts and assets of the five businessmen implicated in the case have been frozen. The report is now in the hands of the prosecutor, who will investigate possible felony charges of embezzlement for the two priests and money laundering for the five business owners.
The suspects are expected to be summoned for questioning in the coming weeks, after which the prosecutor will decide whether to file charges against them.
Greek authorities have informed the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican of this investigation.
Catholic Church in Greece
The Catholic Church in Greece is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Indigenous Roman Catholic Greeks numbered about 50,000-70,000 in 2022.
Most of them are a remnant of Venetian and Genoese rule in southern Greece and many Greek islands (in both the Aegean and Ionian seas) from the early 13th until the late 18th century, Greeks who converted to Catholicism or descendants of the thousands of Bavarians that came to Greece in the 1830s as soldiers and civil administrators, accompanying King Otto.
Since the early 1990s, the number of Catholic permanent residents of Greece has greatly increased. In 2002, they numbered 200,000. These Catholics are immigrants from Eastern Europe (especially Poland) or from the Philippines but also include Western European immigrants that live permanently in Athens, Thessaloniki or the Greek islands (especially Crete, Syros, Rhodes and Corfu).
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