Million Euro Scandal in Spain

by Calebs Airplane 9 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • Calebs Airplane
    Calebs Airplane

    http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/testigos-jehova-agujero-empresarial-galicia_69908_102.html

    (my own translation… yours may be better)

    The Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership (in northern Spain) requested that a local material supplier (owned by rank-and file JWs) not divulge that a million euros are unaccounted for. The cult leadership requested peace from the congregation so as to put pressure on the material company’s owners (who are JWs) and thereby avoid any possible litigation.

    This case affects a well-known construction supply company with its headquarters in a large northern city. The company, founded in 1975, belongs to a family that have been Jehovah’s Witnesses since birth.

    When one of the company’s inheritors died in 2014, one of the daughters inherited his portion of the company. The remaining liquid assets remained in the hands of his closest people.

    “ONE MILLION EUROS”

    When his daughter received her share of the company’s stock, she discovered a notable gap in what she thought was a profitable company, as is evident from the documents has been able to supply this periodical.

    Per these supplied documents, which are also in the hands of several congregations of Witnesses in the northern region, the shareholder had discovered a suspicious sale of an industrial warehouse and misappropriation of funds.

    Coincidentally, a new company with a similar name emerged with a redirected web page and identical phone number. With this scheme, the parallel company would have then siphoned the money from the original one, its materials and its clients.

    The plaintiff calculates that the damages caused by the alleged corrupt administration total one million euros which amounts to 400,000 euros in deviated liquid assets and 600,000 euros in materials that were transferred to the newly formed company.

    THE WITNESSES SUGGEST KEEPING THIS QUIET

    Since she was a Jehovah Witnesses, the plaintiff sought internal justice within her own doomsday cult. Her first complaint in 2014, which she has provided to this periodical, suggested that company stakeholders committed fraud, unfair competition and irregular administration.

    The response from the central headquarters (bethel) in Ajalvir (Madrid) was very clear. “We encourage you to apply Biblical principles in all of your decisions and not be guided by your emotions.” says the response.

    SECOND COMPLAINT

    Not satisfied with this response, the affected persons took a further step. They faxed a certified letter to the Witnesses (in bethel) in which they insisted that outright fraud had taken place. Also, they requested the formation of a committee to investigate what happened.

    (letter from bethel is pictured in article under this paragraph but not here)

    Once again, the leadership of this cult responded imploring the family to avoid secular litigation. “Is money and our rights more important than peace and unity within the congregation?”, asks one passage of this letter from headquarters.

    “We’re sure – continues the letter – that, as Christians, you desire to handle things as Jehovah would and try to be guided by our counsel and other advice.”

    PRESSURES

    In the remaining documentation, the cheated stakeholders emphasized the pressures they received.

    Per how these documents read, the businesswoman rebukes the administrative wing of internal justice of her denomination for being so relentless with her even after all the money she handed over to her family when they needed her.

    As is concluded from the latest communication with Ajalvir (bethel), the businesswoman has now appealed to the legal department of the world headquarters in the US in an attempt to reopen this investigation.


  • Splash
    Splash

    WT pressuring a victim to not seek legal redress but rather take it on the chin and cover up a possible crime?

    There's nothing new under the sun.

    It's a different story when WT are owed money. They'd stampede over their own grandmothers to get the creditors into court.

  • JWdaughter
    JWdaughter

    Yeah, but they NEVER pressure victims to remain silent. There is NO overt or covert threats or implications made when a JW seeks redress of rights. It is just nuts for victims to make such claims against jehovah's clean organization. It's preposterous I tell you, PREPOSTEROUS.

    Whenever I saw victims make the claim that they were pressured before during and after to NOT reveal abuses (of any kind) within the organization and saw the organization DENY it, I just want to scream bloody hell. I remember getting those lectures from the podium after various scandals erupted in the congregation or region. Keep family issues with the family, right? Even 3rd world countries know that CORRUPTION IS CORRUPTION, whatever you call it.

  • Pete Zahut
    Pete Zahut

    A good friend of mine (best man in my wedding) went on to a position of oversite in the building of assembly halls in the U.S., the Caribbean and other island countries. He is an amazing individual who became a multi millionaire making his fortune building vacation resorts and commercial buildings. He ran his own business, worked on JW projects and was also flown around the country by the Watchtower to oversee some of the more difficult child abuse cases.

    He is no longer a JW because of what he saw at this level. According to him, while overseeing these projects, there were JW suppliers who regularly overcharged, double billed and or billed for goods that were never received. The likes of which he hadn't seen in his own company when working with "worldly" suppliers.

    What he saw during his handling of the various child abuse cases he was assigned to, was heartbreaking for him as a father and tender hearted man, to deal with. He was eventually removed because in one horrible case where the young victim committed suicide, he went against Betehels directive not to contact the local authorities.

    I couldn't help but wonder while reading this post, if the reason the Watchtower wants this kept on the down low is because a formal investigation might somehow implicate them as well.

  • Saethydd
    Saethydd

    A very good friend of mine had her JW business partners embezzle from the company they started together and then they tried to frame her for another crime when she tried to get access to the bank account (because that would have revealed their embezzling.) When my friend brought this to the attention of the elders, no disciplinary action was taken against her business partners. And when my friend sought legal justice, she was basically threatened with being disfellowshipped for "disturbing the peace in the congregation." Only one elder that I know of really tried to help my fiend and he is no longer an elder.

  • Spoletta
    Spoletta

    This is one personal experience we won't be seeing in the Watchtower.

  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie

    Pete Zahut tells about " A good friend of mine".

    Saethydd tells about "A very good friend of mine"

    Now THAT is what I call solid documentation. Perhaps I should come up with "a very very good friend indeed of mine" and conjure up some FAKE NEWS too ..................

  • Calebs Airplane
    Calebs Airplane

    Old Hippie... I didn't realize that "solid documentation" was required before posting friends' stories on this site. I don't have any friends' stories yet, but I'll be sure to remember this if I ever post any of my friend's stories in the future. Thanks for alerting us about this very important posting guideline.

  • Saethydd
    Saethydd

    Saethydd tells about "A very good friend of mine"

    Now THAT is what I call solid documentation. Perhaps I should come up with "a very very good friend indeed of mine" and conjure up some FAKE NEWS too ..................

    I am vague in deference to my friend's privacy. Frankly, her privacy is more important to me than whether or not some random person online believes me. I know it is true, which is enough for me, and I simply shared what details I could.

  • Pete Zahut
    Pete Zahut

    Now THAT is what I call solid documentation. Perhaps I should come up with "a very very good friend indeed of mine" and conjure up some FAKE NEWS too ..................

    Yep...everything I related in my post was totally fabricated, just like all those anecdotal stories we'd hear at the assemblies, about someone named Andre' and the unexplainable and miraculous things that happened to him and other JW's in lands where they were persecuted or banned.

    Truth is, I was hoping I could start a following of my own or somehow personally profit by relating my fake experiences....looks like I'm gonna' have to be a bit more clever.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit