DISGRACED former bishop Chrysanthos, stripped of his Limassol diocese in 1998 over allegations he was implicated in an international financial scam, has been hurled back into the public glare, with Greek authorities investigating his part in a multi-million dollar fraudulent investment scheme.
The ex-bishop came close to being defrocked seven years ago, but was spared the humiliation by voluntarily resigning his position as head of one of the richest bishoprics on the island.
Among other things, Chrysanthos was accused of attempting to swindle a British-based investor of $3.7 million. But the bishop got a reprieve when the investor, the key prosecution witness, failed to show up in court in Nicosia, and the case was suspended.
The background to Chrysanthos’ business is the stuff thriller novels are made of. In June 1999 the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States named Chrysanthos in a get-rich-quick scheme accused of stealing more than $6 million from at least four groups of investors, including an Ecuadorian charity for underprivileged girls.
“The trading programme purportedly involved the pooling of investor funds to purchase and resell deeply discounted bank instruments at a profit, under the auspices of Chrysanthos Chrysostomou, formerly the Metropolitan of Limassol…” the SEC’s complaint read.
The SEC also charged as “relief defendants” Greek company Z-Finance, S.A. and its chairman and chief executive officer, Anthony Zioudas; British Virgin Islands company Hedley Finance, Ltd. and its chief of administration, Christian Dante; and Chrysanthos .
A relief defendant is an individual who received ill-gotten investor money.
The case went to trial at the District Court for the District of Columbia, where expert witnesses from the Federal Reserve Board described a number of hallmarks or characteristics of financial instrument fraud, including:
* the promise of unrealistic rates of return with little or no risk;
* overly complex, nonsensical “gobbledygook”;
* an emphasis on secrecy;
* a guarantee that the investors’ principal is absolutely safe because it is going into an lawyer’s or some other special account, or secured by a bond or other guarantee;
* use of jargon from a bucket of 30 or so bogus terms and phrases, such as “international banking day” and “commitment holder”; and
* alleged involvement in a charitable endeavour or world humanitarian effort.
Z-Finance and Zioudas were later ordered to pay $1.7 million plus interest and Hedley Finance, Dante and Chrysanthos $4.5 million plus interest.
Chrysanthos has always maintained his innocence, saying he was duped by his business associates. He claims his motive was merely to raise money for charitable organisations. But he did concede that his transactions were conducted in secrecy, even though under Church law he was required to make them known to the Holy Synod and the Archbishop.
He also admitted to using the holy seal and his own position to sign documents for deals and act as a guarantor for loans.
Then there was the mysterious story of Chrysanthos’ trip to the Philippines, where he was accused by a Church investigative commission of suddenly coming into possession of assets worth $170 million.
In late 1998, the clergyman was banned from performing any Church services for two years. Last year he briefly made the headlines when a bomb was planted under his car in Limassol.
Chrysanthos’ troubles marked the beginning of the “scandal era” for the Church of Cyprus that saw a multitude of allegations and sordid details fly on suspect financial dealings and homosexuality.
Now Greece’s Financial Crime Task Force (SDOE) has come up with fresh evidence implicating Chrysanthos in a major con involving the sale of debentures. According to the SDOE’s findings, Chrysanthos used his status as bishop to lure unsuspecting investors to a charity programme called “Find the Children.” Ostensibly, the purpose of the programme was to raise money for underage children in Romania.
Greek authorities have discovered that the aforementioned Ecuadorian girls’ school deposited £1.7 million in Hedley Finance Ltd. Other victims included Pereira Group of Portugal ($1.5 million) and Thunderbird Management of Arizona (£1 million). The money disappeared, never to be seen by the investors.
SDOE is currently trying to ascertain whether the money for “Find the Children” wound up in personal bank accounts. It appears, though, that Chrysanthos channelled some of the funds to Hedley Finance Ltd, whose CEO Vasileios Tsitsirigos has been indicted in the United States in connection with a different investment scam.
Tsitsirigos is also a key figure in an ongoing investigation in Greece on the existence of a “shadow-judiciary” ring revolving around suspected bribing of senior justices and unethical behaviour. The probe has so far led to the resignation of the Vice-President of the Supreme Court there.
The Tsitsirigos-Chrysanthos connection was broken by investigative journalist Makis Triandafyllopoulos, and later reported extensively in the Greek media.
In a further twist, it has emerged that ex-archimandrite Iacovos Yiosakis – the man behind the shadow-judiciary investigation that has caused uproar in Greece – had served at the Limassol bishopric from 1990 to 1993, during Chrysanthos’ tenure.
Yiosakis, now in custody, is suspected of trying to influence public officials, involvement in financial fraud, embezzling Church property and illegal trading in antiquities.
Meanwhile Chrysanthos has denied the latest allegations, dismissing them as preposterous.
“The truth will shine,” the bishop said in a written statement read out by his lawyer.
Sidebar: a long trail of business activities
* Involvement in an investment scheme defrauding an Ecuadorian charity of over $1.7 million
* Trip to the Philippines, where Chrysanthos allegedly came into possession of assets worth $170 million
* Chrysanthos accused of using the best part of $719,000 donated by Moscow for purposes other than the planned building of a Russian Orthodox Church in Limassol
* Alleged connections to Greek business mogul Vasileios Tsitsirigos, whose company Hedley Finance Ltd is under investigation for fraud
* Using holy seals to sign documents for deals and act as a guarantor for loans
