Coaching given to keep assets secret

Financial officers for religious orders were coached on how they could keep property assets secret because their members typically had different names before their ordination.

At the height of the boom the Association of Bursars of Religious Institutes was told it was preferable to have property vested in names of some individual members rather than in charitable trusts or companies.

The advice said if these members used their baptismal name rather than the one they took when taking their vows, it would help keep the holding from scrutiny.