Marsaxlokk parish priest Luke Seguna granted bail in money laundering case

Marsaxlokk parish Se-guna, priest, Luke has been granted bail.

The priest is facing charges of fraud and money- laundering, and is pleading not guilty.

The compilation ofe vidence against Seguna yester-day continued and witnesses testified in the case against the

39-year-old priest, who was placed on administrative leave by t he Curia criminal pending t he investigations.

Seguna allegedly had hundreds of thousands of euros deposited in various bank accounts, and a col-lection of five motorbikes cars, despite a and two relatively meagre in-come as a clergyman. de-posits The bank amounted to € seven years, 450,000 over w hen h is salary amounted to only

€ 75,000 over that same period.

He is denying charges of misappropriat ing some €500,000 gi ven to h im by 1 50 parishioners over a 10-year span. A request for bail was decided upon at the end of yesterday’s sit-ting by the magistrate, after a num-ber of witnesses were heard. The prosecution objected, however the bail request was granted by the court, as against a €20,000 deposit and a €30,000 personal guarantee. A number of conditions im-posed. Seguna were must live at his par-ents’ h ome, h e cannot go Marsaxlokk other to than to collect belongings under escort, he cannot travel abroad without permission, he cannot approach witnesses or speak to any Marsaxlokk he must sign a donors, bail book twice week and he must a curfew. also observe a

At the start of the sitting, when speaking about the impact of case on his client, the t he priest’s lawyer said that his client had told him t hat his (

Seguna’s) lif e ended. The lawyer has said this as dis-cussions on whether were to witnesses be heard behind doors or not took closed place.

The request to hear witnesses

‘behind closed doors’, meaning in public and away not from reporters, was made by the defence.