After revealing last week how the relationship between a politician and the Church works to swindle public money through the publication of hidden camera footage, the Recorder now reveals how Orthodox parishes bargain for bribes of tens of thousands of euros, reaching the highest level.

The one who collected the video evidence of these practices is the priest Petriku Lesku, who took advantage of the professional situation he found himself in and decided to record on a hidden camera what happens when you try to get a better parish.

Lescu has been a priest in the Archdiocese of Romania and Bacău since 2003. In 2010, after the opening of a criminal case against him, he resigned as a parish priest, remaining an unpaid priest in obedience to His Holiness Joachim, Archbishop of Romania and Bacău.

This year, after a hunger strike in protest against a court sentence that he considered unjust, His Holiness Joachim sent Petrik Lyaska to serve in a church near Onesti, but still unpaid. From this position, priest Leascu presented himself to his immediate superior, archpriest Ioan Bargaoan, with a request to take up a paid position.

At first, the archpriest told him that there were no vacancies and that he still preferred to promote young priests. But everything changed after the utterance of some magical words that carried the priest Leska around the entire circle of sphagnum, reaching the office of His Eminence Joachim, Archbishop of Roman and Bacau. ÎPS Joachim is also a member of the Holy Synod, the highest body of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

You can view the full material on Recorder.ro