Romanian archbishop probed over €300 million EU agriculture claim

Prosecutors allege religious leader and five others lied to authorities about nonexistent vineyards.

The archbishop of the Romanian town of Constanța is being investigated for fraudulently claiming €300 million in EU agricultural funds, the National Anticorruption Directorate said in a statement Monday.

Prosecutors allege that Orthodox Archbishop Teodosie Petrescu and five others submitted statements to the Romanian agency in charge of agriculture funds between 2010 and 2016 falsely claiming that areas of church land were covered with vineyards in order to obtain the subsidies.

The group also falsely said environmental and health conditions for the management of the land were respected during the same period, the directorate said.

The claims allowed Archbishop Teodosie to obtain some €300 million in EU agricultural funds over the six years for the land owned by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

He is also being investigated for accepting a €500 bribe from an unnamed person in exchange for one of his parishes paying that person an ongoing salary.

As part of the investigation, the archbishop is not allowed to participate in any activity related to accessing more EU funds, nor to contact the other suspects and the witnesses involved in the case, for a period of 60 days.

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He could not immediately be reached for comment.

The church still holds appeal and political sway in Romania, despite national media exposing the lavish lifestyle of some orthodox priests. A church-backed petition calling for the revision of the Romanian constitution to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman gathered three million signatures this spring. A parliament follow-up to that petition is still pending.