![](\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/investigate-church-donations-for-money-laundering.jpg\")
The political pressure over the ongoing monk scandal has escalated, with the attorney-general\u2019s (AG) office appointing two investigators on Thursday to examine any criminal offences related to the case.<\/p>\nThe political pressure over the ongoing monk scandal has escalated, with the attorney-general\u2019s (AG) office appointing two investigators on Thursday to examine any criminal offences related to the case.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, MPs have called for the money laundering unit (Mokas) to investigate the church, amid new revelations about how the monks paid for social media posts<\/strong> to receive more cash.Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis pledged the government\u2019s commitment to fully investigate the scandal, and strengthen the team looking into the case.A statement said deputy AG Savvas Angelides appointed Ninos Kekkos and George Papaioannou to conduct an \u201cobjective investigation\u201d, including police involvement \u201cand that of other persons.\u201dNow, a week after the news broke of two monks embroiled in a sex and cash scandal, it has emerged that far-right Elam party leader Christos Christou and former police chief Kypros Michaelides were involved. Serious allegations against (Mokas) and the police have also surfaced.Disy MP Demetris Demetriou said it was unfathomable<\/strong> that when a safe box containing \u20ac800,000 in cash was found at the Osiou Avvakoum monastery, it was transferred to the Tamassos bishopric to be counted, instead of being handed over to the police.All-powerful church<\/strong>Demetriou said the \u20ac800,000 found was a lot of money to have come solely from donations, especially bearing in mind the property found under the monks\u2019 name, and other investments carried out in the area by the monastery.\u201cThere may have been donations made to the monastery for money laundering\u201d he told AlphaNews.Under the current tax rules, the church is obliged to declare money from its business operations, but declaring donations is far less stringent. A declaration is usually made from the donating party for tax relief purposes, as the church is classed under the charities law.Akel MP Irene Charalambides told the Cyprus Mail it is high time the church is investigated for money laundering. \u201cRussian oligarchs have been donating money, and no one has checked to see if this money is clean or not.\u201dCharalambides was referring to the Tamassos bishopric, which is home to Cyprus\u2019 first \u201cRussian-style church\u201d. The donations came from businessman Vyacheslav Zarenkov, who also built a planetarium in the vicinity.\u201cThere are churches, planetariums \u2013 have we checked if this money is clean<\/strong>? Or is it because it\u2019s church we didn\u2019t check it?\u201dShe specified the history with Jho Low is all the more reason to investigate the church. Low is a Malaysian businessman who donated \u20ac300,000 to the church and in return, the archbishop helped him receive a Cypriot passport.Asked if Mokas could be trusted with the investigation bearing in mind complaints made on money laundering oversight, Charalambides was concise:\u201cThis is the only body we have to investigate money laundering.\u201dTwo sources close to the church also supported the idea of having Mokas investigate the source of money, however pointed out that Tamassos Bishop Isaias has changed his views on Russia<\/strong> and placed himself in favour of the independence of Ukraine\u2019s church. It is understood they were saying this may make his bishopric a less favourable destination for Russian money \u2013 though it is still home to the Russian church.Questions over police<\/strong>Police clarified that during the operation to transfer the box of \u20ac800,000 to the bishopric, two officers were present for security purposes.Demetriou argued \u201cit is unfathomable that neither Mokas nor the police have seized the box of money. In fact, they actually accompanied the process. They accompanied hooded individuals<\/strong>, vehicles without number plates.\u201dHe was referring to the presence of hooded figures during the money transfer operation, which many suspect are Elam members.Akel MP Irene Charalambides long-raised alarms over the matter, saying police had a lot to answer for.\u201cThis whole fiasco which began with one monastery is a disgrace for an EU state.\u201cThe church in Cyprus is all-powerful. It is financially powerful with political influence meaning it can affect votes\u2026All this protection around the church is not coincidental.\u201dDemetriou added \u201cthe church can no longer continue to have this asylum.\u201dReturning to the police\u2019s responsibility, he specified police have the ability to look into an individual bank note and see the history of this money to better trace whether it came from an innocent donation or money laundering.A business enterprise<\/strong>Earlier in the day, Akel sought to table to the House interior committee the topic of financial exploitation of religious faith.Nonetheless, this was shut down by Disy, Diko, and Edek.Akel cried foul over political parties \u201crefusing to discuss these unethical and illegal practices.\u201dNonetheless, Disy countered that the topic is already under discussion in parliament.Leaked videos showed of one of the two monks throwing a woman to the ground and beating her with a belt, as well as both men of the cloth crafting fake religious \u2018miracles\u2019.A source close to the church told the Cyprus Mail that the two monks would have paid advertisements on social media in Greece<\/strong> offering a slew of \u2018miraculous\u2019 services including reading out a faithful\u2019s name with the promise of God\u2019s good will.For those abroad, the monks would share bank details so that people could transfer the money.\u201cA lot of their income also came through Greece,\u201d the source said.Follow the The attorney-general’s office in Cyprus has appointed two investigators, Ninos Kekkos and George Papaioannou, to examine criminal offenses related to an ongoing scandal involving monks. MPs have urged the money laundering unit (Mokas) to investigate the church following revelations about monks paying for social media posts to increase cash flow. Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis has committed to a thorough investigation of the scandal. Allegations have emerged involving the far-right Elam party leader Christos Christou, former police chief Kypros Michaelides, Mokas, and the police. Concerns were raised about \u20ac800,000 in cash found at the Osiou Avvakoum monastery and the handling of the money. MPs have suggested that the church might be involved in money laundering, citing donations from Russian oligarchs and Malaysian businessman Jho Low. The church’s financial dealings, including those with foreign donors, are under scrutiny, with calls for a more rigorous investigation into the source of the funds. There are also allegations of police misconduct in the handling of the money transfer operation related to the scandal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1521,671,1418,1794,1101,1902,1525,209,186,1512,325,233,3,1212,672,181,1836,843,379,575,250,415,747,416,658,1823,1419,1837,582,417,564,1060,1946,1956,1150,1775,1799,1696,184,284,19,1519,244,759,827,1529,1806,1513,1435,817,1827,1065,17,1944],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-1521","tag-akel","tag-allegations","tag-asylum","tag-attorney-generals-office","tag-bank","tag-bishop-isaias","tag-box","tag-business","tag-cash","tag-check","tag-church","tag-cyprus","tag-diko","tag-disy","tag-donations","tag-edek","tag-elam","tag-eu","tag-far-right","tag-google","tag-government","tag-greece","tag-hartsiotis","tag-history","tag-increase","tag-investigation","tag-involvement","tag-justice","tag-justice-minister","tag-marios-hartsiotis","tag-money-laundering","tag-monk","tag-monk-scandal","tag-monks","tag-oversight","tag-parliament","tag-party-leader","tag-police","tag-property","tag-russia","tag-safe-box","tag-savvas-angelides","tag-scandal","tag-security","tag-security-purposes","tag-services","tag-sex","tag-sex-and-cash-scandal","tag-social-media","tag-statement","tag-tax","tag-ukraine","tag-woman"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nCyprus Mail on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"