The court against the evangelical pastor Tomás Gómez, 74 years old and originally from Mexico, for allegedly embezzling around half a million euros in donations from his faithful, received a visa for judgment in this country at the Provincial Court of Madrid. During a five-hour investigation, between the statements of the complainants, the witnesses and the accused himself, he discovered the irregular finances of a Christian congregation that has proliferated exponentially in recent years in the region and which, in the Community of Madrid alone, has around 1,200 seats, of which 450 have emerged in the last five years. The main donor to this church, the Iglesia Evangélica Bautista de Sierra Oeste (IEBSO), was Atlético de Madrid exjugador Jackson Martínez. However, according to its statements, its financial operation can be extrapolated to other headquarters in Madrid and Spain.
When Gómez arrived in Spain in 2001, he bought a house, “as he had lived in other countries.” Based in the municipality of Sevilla La Nueva, southwest of Madrid, this incident was reported. It was a one-story duplex funded by donations “from members of the Church in the United States and Mexico” and was his residence, according to his own account. “My house was transformed into a church every Sunday,” explained the priest to questions from his lawyer. On Monday, around 62 p.m., meetings were held for the dissemination of evangelism and the Bible, and classes were held for young people in the hall and in the accommodations on the upper side.
“Our Church is based on trust in the person, in this case in the pastor, our Church is the people, in the buildings and in the houses,” he wrote to his son, Eliseo Gómez, also youth pastor of the same congregation. El, Eliseo, acquired another chalet in Boadilla del Monte in December 2019 —valued at more than 600,000 euros—. Around 260,000 euros to pay for this villa also came from donations from the faithful, which he previously transferred to his priest from his account.
“It was the plan for another headquarters, to expand our congregation,” explained Eliseo, who admitted that he has lived there since because it is his private residence. There, as noted, meetings were also held and members of the Church and missionaries from other countries were welcomed.
For the Fiscalía, the accounting statements indicate that Pastor Tomás Gómez transferred directly to his personal account the income that he sent to the church account. Lo hizo in small places (multiple purchases in stores and restaurants); and in large quantities (with transfers of more than 50,000 and 90,000 euros) from 2016, when the footballer Jackson Martínez, signed by Atleti, became the capitalist donor of this congregation of only 50 members.
Even though the church had a legal title, Pastor Tomás Gómez and his son Eliseo were both indefinite under their respective names and have continued so until today. None of the others could justify why the two houses were legally their property and nominally belonged to the Church. Then, to face an embargo on the Hacienda, Pastor Tomás Gómez recently sold his land.
“There is always a chance like this, if you are looking for a seat that could be a house, and if you acquire it, in this case we asked the legal advisor of FEREDE (Federation of Entidades Religiosas Evangelicas de España) and we said that it was better and more likely to give us our name,” assured the priest and his son, who also apostillaban that all transactions were carried out with the knowledge and firmness of the treasurer of the church, since the business was jointly managed.
Likewise, they bought a van for 35,000 euros and registered it in the name of the priest, “but it was for community use, it was used by everyone who needed it, and also by one of today’s whistleblowers”, designated the priest and his wife in their successive statements.
The agony of the pandemic
The harmony within the Iglesia Evangélica Bautista de Sierra Oeste (IEBSO) ended in 2020, with the Covid pandemic. Economic tensions have dissipated for more than one member of the congregation and its businesses. Some went to the priest to ask for a loan of money to compensate for the financial debt they were suffering from. However, you are the one who takes care of the help. The economic disagreements resulted in a collective complaint against the priest for alleged embezzlement by criminal means. Since then, after an alleged telematic vote, the pastor is no longer the pastor of the church and there is no longer any economic agreement possible between the parties.
“Everyone knew that the money was used because it was counted during Sunday meetings in the church, even sometimes reports were drawn up which showed income and expenses,” insisted the priest, whose defense consisted of trying to show that everything was done in a “transparent” way for everyone to see. “Jackson was also on the line because he told me everything over the phone,” he added.
Jackson Martínez also stated that, although he has the freedom and trust of Pastor Tomás Gómez to use his donations (a total of 416,000 euros) as he sees fit —even if it was signed in writing—, he always thought that all the money brought to the congregation was used in the activities of the congregation. church and so he shouted when the denunciations of other members were seized. However, Jackson never requested the money back.
The judge, whom the president of the court directed at high speed, inviting people to waive testimonies and even a suspension in which they concluded other than quick views, received a visa to pronounce the sentence.
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