According the report in Uk newspaper, The Telegraph, at 27 Oct, Scientology was sued by one of its member of "organised fraud", the final result was made by the court: The church of Scientology was convicted of fraud. It will be a huge shock to the sect.

The conviction will come as a huge shock to the church's millions of followers around the world, who include the Hollywood actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Examining judges sitting at the Paris Correctional Court found six leading Scientologists guilty of fraud, including Alain Rosenberg, the sect's leader in France.

Rosenberg was given a two-year suspended jail sentence and fined almost ?30,000.

The church's so-called Celebrity Centre and Bookshop – both of which make up the headquarters of Scientology in France – were ordered to pay 600,000 euros (?544,600)

The Paris case was launched following a complaint from two women, one of whom complained she was tricked into handing over ?20,000 towards dubious projects, including the development of an "electrometer" to measure mental energy.

The second woman claimed she was forced by the Scientologists to undergo embarrassing tests. When she refused she was sacked.

Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin, who spent years examining the church's activities, attacked the Scientologists' "obsession" with financial gain.