THESSALONIKI, Greece - An abbot accused of embezzlement, money laundering and making false statements 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 high blood sugar, 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 state that greatly benefited the monastery: An investigating judge estimated the benefit at more than $130 million. The case greatly harmed the conservative government that ruled from 2004 to 2009 and led to the resignation of three ministers.
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The abbot, with 31 other defendants, will stand trial, but the politicians embroiled in the scandal will not. Parliament decided in February that the statute of limitations 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 was freed after testifying because the prosecutor and 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.
Although Efraim, through his lawyers, had told authorities he was ready to turn himself in, 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 monastery, stopping motorists and checking IDs.
"We were surprised by the decision (to jail Efraim)," said one of his lawyers. "We had advised him there was only a very small chance of that happening."
The swap deal had been revoked by the conservative government in 2008, following a public outcry, but there are legal issues that have delayed the full restitution of state property.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 medieval 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.
