An abuse survivor feels as if he has been stabbed with a “sharp, long, bladed knife to the back” after his trial was aborted at the 11th hour due to an unprecedented legal tactic by the Christian Brothers.
Last week, the Christian Brothers sought a permanent halt to hundreds of cases lodged by survivors of abuse at its schools and orphanages, arguing it was about to go broke and could not afford to meet them.
It instead wants to sell off its remaining property portfolio, and set up its own scheme outside the court, to divide up the proceeds between a range of creditors, including survivors.
Church property records obtained by Guardian Australia show the Christian Brothers has spent the past decade transferring vast wealth – including holdings of land, school buildings and multimillion-dollar homes – to another Catholic entity, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), for $1 each.
Those assets will not be sold off to help survivors, according to EREA.
The federal attorney general Michelle Rowland’s spokesperson said the government “takes any alleged attempts by institutions to hide assets from victims of child sexual abuse extremely seriously”.
Arnold Thomas & Becker lawyers have 78 claims against the Christian Brothers on behalf of abuse survivors. Partner Jodie Harris said her firm would be scrutinising the property transfers with “laser focus”.
“[Survivors] know about the movement of assets to Edmund Rice over a period of time, and for them, all it is is the Christian Brothers trying to protect themselves again, at [expense to] their lives that have been devastated,” Harris said.
“That’s certainly where most plaintiff lawyers, most lawyers who are acting for people who were abused are looking. We are looking very, very hard at that.”
Lawyers were given little advance warning about the Christian Brothers’ proposed moratorium.
One survivor was due to finally have their trial heard against the Christian Brothers beginning on Monday. It has been aborted.
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