An extraordinary advertisement in Saturday’s Herald effectively accused Attorney-General Mark Speakman of a cover-up while proclaiming the innocence of the head of the NSW Coptic Orthodox Church, Bishop Daniel, who is the subject of a major fraud investigation.
Although the half-page ad featured the church’s logo, Bishop Daniel said he had “no knowledge of or involvement in the advertisement” which claims that through the Bishop’s “astute property investment” the Church now has assets of $220 million.
Bishop Daniel is now the subject of a police investigation.Credit:Brook Mitchell
A developer, who bought a property from the Church in a deal authorised by Bishop Daniel, has emerged as the funder of the $20,900 half-page advertisement.
The ad also claimed that “anonymous groups of Church members” are using the allegations against Bishop Daniel to divide the Church and to “install their own Bishop.”
The advertisement proclaiming Bishop Daniel’s innocence in Saturday’s Herald.
The Crown Solicitor’s Office has been withholding findings that would prove the innocence of Bishop Daniel, the ad also suggested.
A Herald investigation recently revealed that, in January last year, the Bishop was stripped of financial control of the Church by Pope Tawadros II following allegations of fraudulent property dealings worth millions of dollars.
Detectives from the Financial Crimes Squad are currently investigating the allegations. The police investigation follows a separate, long-running inquiry by the Crown Solicitor’s Office which started in December 2018, but has now been put on hold until police inquiries are completed.
In the meantime, a board of three trustees has been appointed by the Pope to run the Church until the allegations against the Bishop are dealt with.
Those responsible for the advertisement appear to have gone behind the back of the trustees.
“The use of the name and the logo of the Diocese was not authorised by the Diocese, as we had no knowledge of it prior to publication,” said one of the trustees, former Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police Nick Kaldas, in a statement issued on behalf of the interim board.
The ad on page 18 was booked on Friday by PR director and media identity Prue MacSween. Her customer was listed as the Australian Sudanese Coptic Welfare Association, which happens to share the same address as the headquarters for the Coptic Church, run by Bishop Daniel.
Ms MacSween was previously hired by the Church hierarchy to hose down an embarrassing gaffe in June 2017 when then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was presented with a Donald Trump tie at a Church function.
Then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, right, inspects a Donald Trump tie given to him by Coptic Orthodox Bishop Daniel, centre, while Grace Bishop Paula, Diocese of Tanta in Egypt, looks on in 2017.Credit:AAP
Ms MacSween issued a media release claiming that the tie was a gift from an individual and that “His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II and Bishop Daniel … regret any presumption or misreporting that they were part of a stunt which could have caused any embarrassment.”
Ms MacSween declined to comment on her role in the advertisement, citing issues of “commercial in confidence.”
Another person believed to have knowledge of the advertisement is Father Sharobim Sharobim who hung up when the Herald inquired about the ad.
While the ad was booked in the name of the welfare organisation, the source of the funds for the $20,900 ad appears to be wealthy property developer and childcare centre owner Maged Zaki, a close associate of the Bishop.
In February 2020, only a fortnight after he’d been stripped of control of property dealings, Bishop Daniel authorised the sale of a church-owned property to Mr Zaki.
The Church bought the property in Mary Street, Northmead, for $1.3 million in February 2018 and months later had lodged documents to build a childcare centre on the site. The person lodging the documents with Parramatta Council was Mr Zaki.
In October 2018, a month before the plans were lodged, Bishop Daniel and Mr Zaki established the NSW Coptic Orthodox Board of Education.
In October 2019 the Church’s childcare centre application was refused by the council.
On 7 February 2020 the Church sold the property for just over $1.4 million to Mr Zaki, without going to market or using a real estate agent.
Mr Zaki, who has a chain of childcare centres called Little Zak’s Academy, recently had a victory over Parramatta Council in the Land and Environment Court. Work will soon commence on the Mary Street property for a two-storey child care centre for 90 children with basement car parking.
Mr Zaki, who resigned from the Education board in July 2020, did not reply to the Herald’s calls or emails.
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