THESSALONIKI, Greece - An abbot accused of embezzlement, money laundering and making false statement in a government land swap deal was arrested Saturday and placed under guard in his monastic cell, police said.
Abbot Efraim was taken into custody on the grounds of the 1,000-year-old Vatopedi Monastery at Mount Athos, police said.
The abbot, who says he has a high fever and a high blood sugar count, is being kept "provisionally" under guard in his cell. A decision on whether to transfer him to a prison hospital is pending, and will likely be made after Christmas.
Efraim was involved in a land swap with the Greek state that greatly benefited the Vatopedi monastery: an investigating high court judge estimated the benefit at more than C100 million ($130 million). The case greatly harmed the conservative government that ruled from 2004-9 and led to the resignation of three of its ministers.
The abbot, along with 31 other defendants, will stand trial, but the politicians embroiled in the scandal will not: parliament decided, in February this year, that the statute of limitations -- which is far more restrictive for members of parliament than for other citizens -- had expired.
Indeed, many believe that the early dissolution of parliament in September 2009, which led to elections and victory for the socialists, was precipitated as much by a desire to protect the three conservative ministers as by the government's inability to deal with the country's snowballing deficit.
Abbot Efraim had been let free after testifying on the case, because the prosecutor and an examining magistrate were at odds on whether to jail him or release him on bail. But a panel of appeals court judges decided Friday that he must be jailed, as he was a flight risk.
And although Efraim, through his lawyers, had told authorities that he was ready to turn himself in voluntarily, apparently he was not believed: all through Friday night and early Saturday, coast guard vessels scoured the waters off the Mount Athos Peninsula and police staffed checkpoints in the two towns closest to the monastic enclave, stopping motorists, searching cars and checking IDs.
"We were surprised by the decision (to jail Efraim)," said Aristotelis Haralambakis, one of his lawyers. "We had advised him there was only a very small chance of that happening."
Some conservative politicians reacted with dismay at the news, but Antonis Samaras, leader of the conservative New Democracy party, who had not been tainted by the scandal, refrained from commenting.
The swap deal had been revoked by the conservative government in 2008, following a public outcry, but there are legal issues that have delayed the full restitution of state property.
Vatopedi Monastery is a treasure hove of mediaeval artifacts and books. It has attracted large numbers of male guests, including Britain's Prince Charles, who is a frequent visitor to Mount Athos. Women and female animals have been banned from Mount Athos since 1046.
