Finance and Environment Crime Section of the Oslo police raided administration premises of Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo (OKB) this morning at 9.00.

After Dagbladet revealed that the Catholic church has registered unsuspecting persons as members and received public support on the basis of inflated membership figures for several years, County Governor of Oslo and Akershus decided to start an investigation in November.

This morning, Oslo police raided the administration building of Roman Catholic Diocese and two residents this morning in the frame of the fraud allegations.

Oslo Catholic Diocese and two people including the bishop are now charged with aggravated fraud, summing 50 million NOK, said prosecutor Kristin Rusdal to Dagbladet.

Bishop Bernt Eidsvig previously rejected that the suspicious membership registration that the church practices may be illegal.