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Mali Church in Crisis over Swiss Leaks Bank Revelations

La Croix
June 2, 2017

https://international.la-croix.com/news/mali-church-in-crisis-over-swiss-leaks-bank-revelations/5286

The Bishops Conference of Mali has denied information published by the French daily newspaper "Le Monde" purporting to show the existence of seven Swiss bank accounts holding 12 million euros.

A mass in the Malian capital, Bamako. / Joe Penney/Reuters

d funds to announce the Reign of God". Securing and optimizing the meager resources of the Mali Church“Everything decided by the Conference is done transparently and regularly evaluated,” said Fr Edmond Dembele, current secretary-general of the CEM.“And to my knowledge, we do not have a bank account in Switzerland."However, this was not always the case as confirmed by his predecessor Fr Cyprien Dakaou, another protagonist implicated by Le Monde. He is currently in France preparing a doctoral thesis on economics at the University of Lille 1.“When I took up my role in 2004, the CEM certainly had an overseas account,” Fr Dakaou stated.“In 2005 and 2006, part of this capital was transferred into a single account in the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC. However, the amount was far lower than that mentioned by Le Monde. And that account was closed in 2010,” he said.These measures were meant to allow the Mali Church to secure and optimize its meager resources by confiding a part of its “portfolio” to a private bank, according to Fr Dakaou. The interest generated from the deposit was intended to provide for the operation and pastoral activities of the six dioceses of the country. No comment from the Holy SeeWho is telling the truth? Is it Le Monde, which has several troubling documents but which do not decisively prove any kind of illegality? Or the CEM, which claims that the “tendentious article” aims only to “smear” the image of the Mali Church without really offering decisive evidence on the issue?“I would like to believe that the Malian bishops have not done anything legally reprehensible,” comments Jean Merckaert, editor in chief of Projets magazine, which is published by a French Jesuit and lay team.“However, if it is confirmed that they placed their money in a tax haven then they have at least sinned by naivety and lacked discernment," Merkaert said.“It would mean they are involved in a system that we know organizes large-scale tax evasion and which is a parasite on the global economy as well as assisting in pumping resources out of Africa,” he added.Questioned by La Croix on June 1, the Holy See refused to make any comment on the issue, which could be embarrassing for Pope Francis.It appears, in fact, that the appointment of five new cardinals announced on May 21, including Archbishop Zerbo, was a personal decision of the pope.His closest collaborators had no knowledge of the decision until the last moment. Even the Secretariat of State was not aware of Pope Francis’ decision and was thus unable to warn of any eventual concerns regarding the prelates who are to receive their red hats at the consistory planned for June 28.

 

 

 

 

 




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