Father Anthony and 10 of his accomplices are under investigation for financial crimes

The founder of the children’s charity Ark of Peace, priest Anthony Papanicolaou, his wife and nine other people are under investigation for financial crimes.

Eleven people under investigation for financial management of the Ark of Peace charity

Prosecutor Ioannis Sevis, who is investigating the finances of the child protection charity The Ark of Peace, has directed the Financial Police to conduct an in-depth review of the financial affairs of the charity, as well as to investigate 11 people in high positions in the organization or associated with the founder and his wife. Sevis reportedly asked for a preliminary investigation into evidence of four serious financial crimes, including embezzlement, breach of obligation, tax evasion and money laundering.

The Financial Police was instructed to:

• Conduct a tax audit for the last 5 years.
• Report on the conclusion of the management audit.
• Research on the availability of national or European funding and grants.
• Opening of bank accounts in the last 5 years for both a charitable organization and 11 persons under investigation.

When opening bank accounts for individuals, cards, stocks and any other financial assets that can be traced in their possession are also taken into account. The police were ordered to open the accounts of Kivotos and all 11 persons under investigation, including Father Antonios, his wife, close family members of the spouses and (now former) members of the charity’s board of directors. According to the magazine “live news“on the Mega TV channel, two adopted children of the spouses are also under investigation.

Finance under scrutiny

The development of events in the case, which continues to shock the Greek society, continues, and revelations follow one after another – both in terms of complaints of child abuse that were in the structures of the organization, and in the financial part, in which there is a lack of transparency on the part of NGO leaders . Citing police sources, the newspaperToVima” reported that during a recent raid by the financial police, 350,000 euros in cash were found. “The financial aspect is of great interest and concern,” said ToVima.

It is characteristic that in the apartment on Kolonos, where Father Antonios and his wife lived, valuable valuables were found, donated by citizens to a charitable organization, 270 gold coins (British guineas), as well as hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, the origin of which the former leaders of the organization will have to explain. Already frozen 4 bank accounts belonging to the priest, his wife and 88-year-old mother in two banks, which held a total of 360,000 euros.

The priest’s wife, who was also the charity’s CEO, appears to have handled millions of euros in donations while declaring her profession as a “housewife”. The fact that 5,900,000 was found in the NGO’s bank account shows how much money was managed by those responsible for charity, notes ToVima.

It is worth noting that about sexual violence over the children by the founder of the organization, Father Anthony, and it was because of this that the police drew attention to the children’s charity organization “The Ark of Peace”, everyone has already forgotten. Money (and especially big money) is much more important …

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