A woman working as a part-time secretary at the Marsaxlokk parish for the past 25 years, testified about how donations were regularly collected and how former parish priest Fr Luke used to help those who turned to him in times of need. 

Moira Muscat, who has handled the job at the Marsaxlokk parish for the past 25 years, was testifying on Friday in proceedings where the former parish priest stands accused of allegedly swindling some 150 parishioners out of around €500,000 over a 10-year span. 

The priest denies all accusations of fraud, misappropriation and money laundering. 

Criminal investigations allegedly discovered that the priest had hundreds of thousands of euros in various personal bank accounts and a collection of vehicles, despite his meagre income. 

During a previous sitting, the administrative secretary of the Malta archdiocese testified that the church authorities had never flagged anything abnormal in the figures at the Marsaxlokk parish and had not filed any report “with the ecclesiastical or civil authorities”.

On Friday, the secretary handling parish matters on a day-to-day basis explained how she regularly issued receipts for two types of donations. 

‘Lira fix-xahar’ scheme and the ‘arbural’

Collectors would regularly visit Marsaxlokk families to collect “one lira” (equivalent to €2.33) on a monthly basis, explained Muscat. 

Those funds were then deposited with her at the parish office against receipt and another receipt for the total annual amount would later be issued to each family. 

Those amounts were manually recorded in a notebook which the witness produced in court. 

Families were listed, street by street, along with their respective donations. 

This scheme had been in place since 2001, long before Fr Luke took over as parish priest and the secretary said that she personally deposited the funds in the parish account at the bank.

Since his arrival, Fr Luke had introduced another donation scheme known as the “arbural” whereby parishioners donated €10 a month. 

Those monies were generally handed directly to Fr Luke but were sometimes given to the secretary who issued a receipt against an annual lump sum payment of €120 or at the year’s end. 

Fr Luke would communicate to her any sums paid and she would tick the monthly sums on an excel sheet accordingly, the witness went on. 

All funds were used for church maintenance and also for charity.

“Did you verify whether the monies were actually used for the stated purposes,” asked the prosecution.

“Who am I to do so,” retorted the witness, confirming that the method of collection remained unchanged with respect to the “lira fix-xahar” scheme which had been in place under previous parish priests. 

Asked by the defence, Muscat confirmed that besides maintenance works, Fr Luke used to face “lots of people asking for charity”.

The secretary had personally witnessed persons, some even coming from outside the parish, who would turn up at the office saying that they could not pay their rents or buy food. 

“I would hear them tell Fr Luke. But then he’d take them into his office to speak in private. Especially during COVID, many people came with financial problems,” said the witness. 

She also confirmed that Fr Luke had asked her to make shopping deliveries to families in need. 

The parish priest’s charitable acts were apparently sorely missed. 

Fr Luke’s charitable acts ‘missed’

Another witness, Josephine Sciberras, who took the witness stand on Friday said that when she told fellow parishioners about her court summons, many told her, “What a pity. The parish priest used to help so much.”

She was a regular church volunteer, reciting the rosary and joining in hymns at the parish church. 

She would also meet the request of a number of elderly parishioners and organise coffee mornings, explained Sciberras. 

After settling expenses for the gathering of “20 or so” at such social events, she would hand over any remaining profit to the parish priest. 

“Not that there was much… Just worth a bouquet of flowers,” remarked the witness, bringing ripples of laughter among those present in court. 

Those monies would then be used “for the parish of course”.

She had personally directed needy people to Fr Luke for help and they told her that he sometimes provided them with groceries, said the witness. 

Asked by the defence about church projects undertaken, the parishioner promptly quipped that all was in order.She also helped organise cake sales, with all proceeds directed to people in need and any leftover funds handed to the parish.

At the end of Friday’s sitting the court, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, handled a request for the removal of curfew hours currently imposed upon Fr Luke. 

The AG objected to that request by the priest’s lawyers.

However, the court suggested a halfway solution which was accepted by the prosecution and that was to extend the hours that the priest could spend outside his home.

All other bail conditions remained unaltered. 

The case continues in January. 

AG lawyers Ramon Bonnet Sladden and Andrea Zammit prosecuted. Lawyers Matthew Xuereb and Alex Scerri Herrera were defence counsel. Lawyer Stefano Filletti represented the Malta Archdiocese.