Canadian priest charged for stealing $500,000 from Syrian refugees

A Canadian priest was charged this week for stealing more than half a million dollars (US$400,000) intended for the resettlement of Syrian refugees, and then gambling it away. Amer Saka, 51, a clergyman of the Chaldean Catholic Church -- based in Baghdad -- had allegedly collected the funds from more than 20 donors to support refugees arriving from the war-torn nation, according to local police. Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Canada, told The London Free Press that Saka had called him to say he had gambled and lost all of the money.