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Former Norwegian priest spends embezzled money on prostitutes

Tuesday, 27 January 2015 11:53 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 28 January 2015 12:34 AM ]

Are Blomhoff

A former Norwegian priest has confessed to spending 15 million kroner (1.9 million dollars), which he embezzled from a welfare organization, on parties and prostitutes in Spain.

"It was totally out of control, the size of the sum shows that," DPA quoted Are Blomhoff as telling the district court in the eastern Norwegian city of Drammen on Tuesday.

Blomhoff told a judge that all the money he embezzled during the seven-year-period had been spent.

The former priest, at the time head of the Stiftelsen Betanien foundation, used a fake account linked to a nursing home foundation in Spain to siphon off the money.

"This is the toughest day of my life -- to admit to something that was so removed from myself, yet part of me," Blomhoff told the court.

Stiftelsen Betanien, which has around 500 employees, runs a nursing school, a daycare center and a hospital in Bergen, western Norway.

During the court session, Blomhoff also admitted to having a drinking problem and took full blame for his crimes.

"It was almost like an illness, an addiction,” said Blomhoff.

Current Stiftelsen Betanien chairman Christian Hysing-Dahl told state run-media the embezzlement was on its own unacceptable, but “When we see what the money was used for, it just gets even worse.”

“I think it’s good, though, that the case will come to a close, both for him and us,” Hysing-Dahl said. “Now he’ll get his sentence and can start serving it.”

SRK/MHB/AS

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