BELGIAN federal prosecutors are preparing to bring charges, including fraud and extortion, against the Church of Scientology as a "criminal organisation", according to press reports.

Charges of fraud, illegal medicine, breaches of privacy and extortion have been drawn up against the church and two senior executives, 'De Tijd', Belgium's financial newspaper, has reported.

"The subpoenas have only just been sent to the Scientologists," the newspaper…

FORMER members of the Church of Scientology will hold a conference in Dublin next month to highlight the impact the movement has on followers.

The organiser is Pete Griffiths, a former director of an English Scientology mission, who says he has informed police at Dublin airport Scientologists may stage protests there against speakers arriving for the event.

Mike Rinder, a former chief spokesman for Scientology, claims when he came to Ireland in October he was…

A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.

Rejecting the church’s appeal against a 2009 ruling, the court said two French branches of the US-based organisation were guilty of “organised fraud” and gave four of its leaders suspended jail sentences of up to two years.

A French parliamentary committee described Scientology…

The Church of Scientology is appealing a French court ruling that found it guilty of fraud for fleecing vulnerable followers and fined it hundreds of thousands of euros.

The 2009 conviction saw Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay €600,000 in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.

Arriving for the hearing at a Paris court today, the group's spokesman, Eric…

REVENUES HAVE plummeted at the Irish branch of the controversial Church of Scientology, which remains deep in the red.

Membership of the worldwide church, established in 1954, includes movie stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

However, documents show that interest-free loans from abroad are propping up the Irish branch, which is more than €688,000 in the red in its latest accounts.



According to financial documents lodged by the Church of Scientology Mission of…

SCIENTOLOGY bosses are trying to brainwash vulnerable people to get at their cash, an undercover Irish Sunday Mirror investigation reveals today.



We went behind the scenes at the secretive religion's four-hour long Personal Efficiency Course last week.



Our aim was to discover just what goes on inside what experts call the biggest cult in the world.



And our findings weren't pretty. Our reporter was told he was depressed, nervous, and unstable, and warned the only…

Row over posters that claim sessions can tackle job insecurity as former member of church describes campaign as ‘misleading and offensive’



Complaints have been filed with the country’s advertising watchdog over a Church of Scientology campaign, which claims its courses can help with job insecurity.



The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) is investigating claims that the ads, appearing in Dublin’s train and Dart…

Members of an FBI task force on human trafficking have been investigating the Church of Scientology for over a year, according to an article in the New Yorker.

The New Yorker profile of ex-Scientologist writer/director Paul Haggis, responsible for movies such as Million Dollar Baby and Crash, paints a strange picture off what life as a prominent member of Scientology is like. One of the larger revelations involves the existence of an…

AUSTRALIA’S Senate yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a call for an inquiry into allegations against the Church of Scientology, made by former members who claim to have been abused, harassed or coerced into having abortions.



Senator Nick Xenophon’s motion to authorise a senate committee to hold a wide-reaching inquiry into the church that was founded in 1953 by the late US science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard attracted only six votes in the 76-seat chamber. Another 33…