Pastors face several years in prison

2023-07-13 02:52:06

The accused Catholic pastor is sitting in a courtroom in the district court in the trial for breach of trust and money laundering. © picture alliance/dpa

A Catholic pastor from North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have embezzled donations and smuggled drugs. Now he’s on trial.

2 min reading time

2023-07-12 18:00:00

The accused came in dark trousers and a light short-sleeved shirt and seemed calm: a Catholic pastor has had to answer to the district court in Mönchengladbach since Wednesday for commercial infidelity. The former military chaplain is also accused of commercial money laundering. He is in custody.

According to the indictment, the 59-year-old is said to have transferred more than 100,000 euros from a church donation and collection account abroad during his time as pastor of the Catholic parish in Hückelhoven.

In addition, as a so-called financial agent, between 2017 and the beginning of 2020 he is said to have transferred funds from fraud offenses totaling 10,000 euros abroad from over 160 of his own and third-party accounts. In many cases, the amounts went to accounts in Africa, according to the prosecutor.

To begin with, the defendant only confirmed his date of birth and place of birth in Cologne and his marital status to the court as unmarried. His two defense attorneys said he would not initially provide any information on the allegations. They left it open whether that would change on the second day of the hearing.

Caught with three kilos of heroin

The cleric was extradited to the German judiciary in February. The 59-year-old had previously been in prison in Brussels since August 2020 after being caught with almost three kilos of heroin at a Belgian airport. In December 2020, he was sentenced to more than three years in prison in Belgium for gang drug trafficking.

After the indictment had been read out, the judge explained that, at the suggestion of the defense, there had been discussions with all those involved in the proceedings beforehand. An understanding did not come about. For the public prosecutor, a prison sentence of less than two years and six months would be conceivable “only in return for a comprehensive confession”.

After finding out about financial irregularities, the Aachen diocese filed a criminal complaint in March 2018. Shortly before, the pastor had asked for his release from office “for personal reasons”. The diocese has released him, he may not be a priest.

Four more dates are planned for the trial before the district court by the end of August. 23 witnesses are to be heard. The former place of work of the priest, Hückelhoven, is a good 20 kilometers away.

dpa