Regular audits had flagged “nothing abnormal” in the accounts of the Marsaxlokk parish headed by a priest who now stands accused of money laundering, fraud and misappropriation, a court was told. 

“We deemed nothing abnormal in the figures at the Marsaxlokk parish when compared to the averages registered by other surrounding parishes,” said Michael Pace Ross, administrative secretary of the Malta Archdiocese who testified on Monday in ongoing proceedings against Fr Luke Seguna. 

The former parish priest denies swindling some 150 parishioners of around €500,000 over a ten-year span, claiming that certain payments were made to him personally. 

A police investigation allegedly discovered that he had hundreds of thousands of euros in various personal bank accounts and a collection of vehicles, despite his meagre income as a priest. 

Fr Luke Seguna bought expensive bikes and cars on a priest's salary. Photo: Facebook

At a previous sitting, the court also heard that the priest allegedly spent some €148, 538 in payments to three paying processing sites linked to a live porn site, prompting the bank to flag those transactions to the cleric.

Fr Luke allegedly explained that he was aware of those payments.

When the case resumed on Monday, Pace Ross presented a batch of documents, including run-of-the-mill emails sent by the Archdiocese to the Marsaxlokk parish over a seven-year span. 

The Archdiocese also held yearly meetings, on a one-to-one basis with each parish priest to review accounts and discuss budgets. 

Asked by the prosecution whether any irregularity had been flagged to Church authorities, the witness explained how income and expenditure of each parish were regularly scrutinized.

The exercise was done by checking monthly returns of both income and expenditure which each parish forwarded to the person handling the task with respect to each parish. 

Those figures were analyzed by comparing them to average amounts registered by other surrounding parishes.

Fr Luke Seguna, right, with Archbishop Charles Scicluna. Photo: Facebook

For instance, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the church registered a drop in income across the board as churches remained closed and when restrictions were lifted, certain people, like the elderly, stayed away, explained Pace Ross. 

This meant an average drop of some 58%.

Parish accounts were checked item by item, to confirm that financial receipts were issued and the necessary formal direction obtained from church authorities before embarking on some specific project. 

Line item by line items are checked by a person for each parish and in case that person came across any irregularity, the matter would be escalated to the level of the church’s financial controller. 

If necessary, it is taken to an even higher level by being flagged to Pace Ross himself, the witness explains.

But in respect of the Marsaxlokk parish, he had received nothing of the sort, Pace Ross confirmed. 

Pressed further on this, the witness said that the relative accounts and audits sections had come across “nothing abnormal” as to necessitate the matter being escalated to the administrative secretary level. 

So if no one had flagged anything abnormal, had the church authorities filed any report about Fr Luke, stepped in lawyer Stefano Filletti, who is representing the Archdiocese in the case.

“I personally never filed any report. And none of the senior officials at the Curia did either,” came the reply. 

“We filed no report, formal or informal be it with the ecclesiastical or civil authorities,” stressed Pace Ross. 

Asked how the Church got to know about the Marsaxlokk parish priest’s case, Pace Ross replied, “like everyone else did….In fact, the police informed us the day before [Seguna’s arraignment.”

As soon as he got that information from the police, Pace Ross had alerted his superiors, namely the bishops, and then set about preparing for an internal audit.

“I instructed our finance team to delve into the Marsaxlokk files in greater detail.”

That internal audit operated “at arm’s length” from the Curia, explained the witness.

And last-minute checks on Monday morning before coming to court confirmed that the audit process was still ongoing, said Pace Ross. 

The case, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, continues in December. 

AG lawyers Andrea Zammit and Ramon Bonett Sladden prosecuted. Lawyers Matthew Xuereb and Alex Scerri Herrera were defence counsel. Lawyer Stefano Filletti appeared parte civile on behalf of the Malta Archdiocese.