Stranger's money distributed

Priest (90) slips into the role of Robin Hood

After his headless action, the retired priest had to answer questions at the Eisenstadt regional court.(Bild: Harald Schume, Krone KREATIV)

As an 88-year-old, a monsignor took on the role of adult representative for his two cousins and distributed around 254,000 euros among the people without their consent. The clergyman has now been put on trial in Eisenstadt.

The trial schedule makes exciting reading: an adult representative from northern Burgenland used 253,824.24 euros improperly for his own affairs between January 2023 and January of this year.

Will this crook answer to the Eisenstadt Regional Court or be excused?

In any case, the alleged victim pushes his walker into room 7 and ...

... parks it next to the dock before the 90-year-old takes a seat opposite the presiding judge of the panel of lay judges, states his profession as "retired priest" and pleads guilty in full.

Reverend makes his confession
Two years ago, he had registered as an adult representative for his two cousins. "But I had been looking after and caring for them for 15 years," says the Reverend. "At some point, they could no longer manage on the pension and care allowance." So one of the cousins sold a property the previous year, which flushed tens of thousands of euros into the family coffers. "And then they took it, didn't they?" asks the public prosecutor. "Yes!"

Of course, it's easy to think of Ferraris, dream vacations, illegal gambling or red light in the milieu. But:

Disposing of other people's assets
"I donated the money exclusively to charitable causes, such as institutions of the diocese that were in need." Of course, he was aware that these were other people's assets. "I know that this was not allowed. The cousin probably wouldn't have done it that way. But I thought it was a good thing."

Suddenly there was a lot of money. What were they supposed to do with it? So I withdrew it or transferred it, as the case may be

Der 90-Jährige wollte Gutes tun

The ex-priest has already paid back 108,000 euros, 148,824.24 is still outstanding.

Although the man has not enriched himself, diversion is out of the question because the value limit of 5,000 euros has been exceeded many times over. Monsignor is sentenced to eight months in prison for embezzlement, suspended for three years. Because his savings were exhausted, the self-proclaimed Robin Hood had to make up for the damage with monthly installments.