IURD denies charges of trafficking of Portuguese children
DECEMBER 12, 2017
IURD says that the accusations of kidnapping and an illegal adoption scheme of Portuguese children in a nursing home in Lisbon are the result of "a smear and defamatory campaign".
In a statement issued in Brazil, the Brazilian church said that the investigation carried out by the reporters of the Portuguese television station TVI is based on the false testimony of a former bishop named Alfredo Paulo, who would have been expelled from the church for improper conduct.
IURD adds that "its members, in Portugal and outside the European country, will file numerous actions against TVI in Portugal and abroad".
In a video broadcast by the Universal Church on an official Youtube channel, two youths called Vera de Andrade and Louis Carlos de Andrade, grandchildren of Edir Macedo, who were adopted in the home maintained by the church in Lisbon, pronounced themselves claiming that the report of TVI made accusations which are not true.
"TVI is saying things about us that are not true. They are saying that we were kidnapped by the Universal Church. We were not kidnapped, we were adopted lawfully by an American family and we lived until our 20 years with this family in the United States, "said Louis Carlos.
We want to tell TVI that it is not fair at all what they are doing with us. And we want the right of reply.
On Monday night, TVI began the exhibition of a series of reports called "The Secret of the Gods", in which it notices that the IURD was allegedly related to the abduction and trafficking of children born in Portugal.
The alleged crimes would have happened in the 1990s with children taken to a home in Lisbon, which would have fueled a scheme of illegal adoptions for the benefit of IURD-related families living in Brazil and the United States.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into this alleged network of illegal adoptions of Portuguese children linked to the IURD, Lusa told the Attorney General's Office Monday.
"There is an investigation related to this matter, and it has been referred to the DIAP [Investigation and Criminal Action Department of Lisbon] for investigation," said the Attorney General's Office in a response sent to Lusa.
The first episode of the TVI series, which claims to have had access to more than 10,000 documents in a seven-month investigation, tells the story of a Portuguese mother's reunion with her three children, who were taken away without authorization from Social Security and then sent to another family that lived in the United States.
According to information gathered by TVI, IURD currently has 9 million faithful, spread across 182 countries, 320 bishops and about 14 thousand pastors.
This evangelical church was founded in the late 1970s and is led by Bishop Edir Macedo, considered one of the richest men in Brazil.
The TVI series began streaming Monday and is forecasting 10 chapters.
https://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/igreja-brasileira-nega-acusacoes-de-que-manteve-esquema-de-trafico-de-criancas-portuguesas-8978565.html?utm_source=Push&utm_medium=Web
