Photo: LECLAT (Getty Images)
Man, this sounds like the plot from a Dan Brown novel that I never read.
According to Daily Mail, the Bishop of Formosa named Jose Ribeiro, along with five other priests, were arrested after they embezzled over $600,000 of church donations, fundraising case and funeral fees.
And it gets even stranger as about $27,000 behind a false wall in a plastic bag were found, too. Police believe all this money was stolen over a three-year period from various fundraising events and donations.
Brazil priests follow Clinton Foundation’s paradigm–pay for play. https://t.co/CKzzo4IqjM via @MailOnline
— Nanapush (@NanapushOjibwa) March 26, 2018
Daily Mail
Phone taps uncovered the alleged web of deceit with conversations apparently revealing how the group laundered the money by purchasing a cattle ranch, a lottery agency, mobile phones, luxury cars, designer watches and gold chains. Large amounts of cash in foreign currencies were also found.
The investigation is reported to have also uncovered evidence that priests, involved in the scheme, paid the bishop a monthly ‘protection allowance’ of between 7,000 to 10,000 reais (up to $3,000) to keep their jobs.
Prosecutor Douglas Chegyry said to Brazilian media: “The information we have obtained is that in order to remain in the more profitable parishes that generated more money, the priests paid a cash allowance to the bishop.” They also seized three iPhones, a Macbook and found more money hidden in draws around the home which the defendant claimed did not belong to him.
Lawyers for the disgraced priests have denied the charges — charges that include misappropriation, money laundering, ‘ideological falsehood’ and criminal association.
So much for people confessing their sins to them.
