Former St Nicholas Treasurer Speaks out, Theodore Kalmoukos, Pokrov, February 14, 2009

Former St. Nicholas Treasurer Speaks out

By Theodore Kalmoukos
Pokrov
February 14, 2009

http://pokrov.org/display.asp?ds=Article&id=901

Former St. Nicholas parish treasurer Susanna Searl is at the center of controversy as one of six parishioners banned from stepping foot in the church by Fr. John Artemas. One ex-parishioner has already been arrested and is facing possible prison time.

BOSTON – The issue hovering over St. Nicholas parish in Oak Lawn, Illinois of Mr. Emmanuel Papadopoulos, who is facing one year in prison because he violated his priest’s order, Fr. John Artemas not to step onto the church because he was asking questions about its finances, as The National Herald reported in its last week’s edition, has alerted the members of the Church in America and beyond.

Then-treasurer of the parish council of St. Nicholas, Susanna Searl (Eliopoulos) in an interview with The Herald reveals what was going on at St. Nicholas, how the GOYA accounts were operated and by whom and also her removal from the parish council by Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago with the recommendation of her priest at the time Archimandrite Timothy Bakakos. Metropolitan Iakovos told the Herald last week that he was not aware of the issue.

“I do not know these things,” he had said.

Mrs. Searl is not permitted by Fr. Artemas to step into St. Nicholas church.

“If I go there, I will be arrested,” she said.

In regards as to how this whole issue started at St. Nicholas in Oak Lawn, Ms. Searl said, “I was elected as treasurer in January 2005 and of course I took my job seriously. I went to the bank to check out various accounts to make sure the money was flowing properly and to see if everything was ok. At some point I realized I was not aware of several accounts the bank teller was giving me and I thought perhaps it could have been a mistake on her part. She gave some other accounts, but then I noticed that they were all under St. Nicholas’ tax free identification number and I realized that there were some accounts nobody knew about. I went and confronted the bookkeeper Doreen Galanis and Fr. Timothy (Bakakos) about the accounts and they told me that those were the accounts of GOYA, the choir, and the gift shop are not of my concern. They said that my only concern is the parish accounts. I told them that when they have the church’s id number it is of my concern because money can flow in and out.”

Asked if the accountant of the parish knew about those accounts, she said, “In my knowledge he did not know.”

While looking at previous bills and payments she discovered certain items which she checked on.

“As I was shuffling through bills and payments I noticed that there were several checks written for a telephone company, so I went into the files to see which company was paid and why,” she said. “Sure enough, there were different numbers than the church’s. So, once again I confronted them (the parish council) and they said they were not aware that there were different numbers. The phone bill would come in and the parish council would pay it. The numbers were at Doreen Galanis’ home but they were under Fr. Timothy’s (Bakakos) name because they were opened through the church. What they told me was that Leo Galanis was doing the website at that time and it was easier for him to do it from home and therefore they set up the phone number to have access to the Web from home. The parish council did not know about it and it remained like that for years. He did the website for a year. Also Fr. Timothy had an AOL account with St. Nicholas church that was not approved of.”

At some point the bank stopped providing her information about the accounts. She said, “On March 15 I went there again as I used to every two weeks and asked for the accounts and the balances and I noticed that the balances were changed. So I finally took the sheet the bank gave me and I went to the office and I asked Fr. Timothy and Doreen Galanis what these accounts were. Again, they told me these accounts are not of my concern.

Asked if she began to suspect anything, Mrs. Searl, said, “No, I honestly went in to find out where the mistake was so I could clean it up. It looked terrible because we had accounts all over the place. I said, ‘How come you have been crying for money when we have all this money in these accounts?’ But again they said those are not my concern.”

Asked about how much money those GOYA accounts had, she said, “There was $27,000 within the two GOYA accounts, which is a lot of cupcakes to sell for GOYA.”

Asked who was managing the account, Mrs. Searl said, “Fr. Bakakos’ name was on the account at the time. As soon as I confronted them, Fr. Timothy went over to the bank and told them not to give any information on those accounts and he closed the two GOYA accounts with the $27,000 and he reopened them.”

Fr. Artemakis in his interview to The National Herald said that some pious lady was giving huge amounts of donations to Fr. Timothy (Bakakos) who deposited the monies into the GOYA accounts and not the general account. Mrs. Searl was asked about that.

“I do not know,” she said. “I tell you that the parish council did not have oversight of the GOYA account to see what was flowing in and flowing out. But let me tell you when I was in GOYA at 14-years-old and I was the treasurer, I never had more than $300 in that account and it was from cupcake and t-shirt sales.”

Mrs. Searl refused to reveal the name of the pious lady who was donating the huge amount of donations.

“I probably shouldn’t say the name,” she said. “It is not my place to be announcing who gave those donations. It was not only that lady, there were several donors who gave huge donations, but that particular lady was giving big amounts of money.

Asked if Fr. Bakakos had presented her documents with the movements of those GOYA accounts, Mrs. Searl said, “No. He showed me on a typewritten sheet where the money came from and where the money went and when I asked him for the bank statements he got up and he left the room. The GOYA accounts had never being audited. I asked to do the audit and they did not let me.”

Asked why do he thinks the parish council maintained a negative or opposing stand towards her to the extent that at some point she was asked to resign, she said, “I do not know. It was amazing. They were brutally attacking me, telling me to resign and it was mostly in executive sessions, except for Eleni Kamperos.”

At some point she was asked to sign some blank checks but she refused.

Mrs. Searl said, “It all started when he said (Fr. Bakakos) that I couldn’t sign checks anymore. Doreen Galanis asked me to sign some blank checks for an employee and she said I will give it to the employee and I will figure out the taxes, but I refused to sign.”

Asked how much money was flowing through the GOYA accounts, she said, “Doreen Galanis had stated close to $100,000 was donated in a year by that generous lady.”

Finally, Mrs. Searl was dismissed from the parish council, “By September 13, 2005, I received a letter from Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago saying that he was throwing me off the parish council.”

Asked is she goes to St. Nicholas to worship, she said, “No, I am not allowed to. I am one of the six people that Fr. Artemas has prohibited from stepping into the church. If I go there, I will be arrested. I go to St. Spyridon now