LA HAYE, April 17, (AFP/Reuters) - A Catholic priest in the Netherlands has come under investigation over allegations of child abuse and embezzlement in Sri Lanka, Church officials and the police said Friday.
The Rotterdam diocese said in a statement it had contacted the police and dismissed the priest.
Rotterdam police spokesman Karel van Horssen confirmed the Church notification and said the investigation was launched immediately.
"In July 2009, the diocese was informed of the priest's suspected sexual abuse and embezzlement in Sri Lanka," the diocese said.
The priest whose name was not given worked in a Sri Lanka charity. The diocese contacted the public prosecutor's office after an internal investigation, Pieter Kohnen, spokesman for the Dutch Catholic Church said.
The diocese had probed the priest after hearing in July 2009 of sexual abuse and financial fraud he was said to have committed in Negombo while doing charity work.
“Information was obtained, several people were spoken with and attempts made to confirm the allegations, but thus far with insufficient result to prove the allegations,” it said.
Kohnen said last month that at least 1,100 allegations of sexual abuse committed by members of the Dutch Roman Catholic clergy in the three decades from 1950 had emerged in March. |
E-mail
