Church of South India faces probe for financial irregularities
Mangalore Today News Network
Chennai, July 12, 2016: The SFIO, Serious Fraud Investigation Office has begun probing alleged financial irregularities at the CSI, Church of South India, the country’s largest Protestant congregation.
The fraud investigator gets into the picture after individual audits found discrepancies in the books of the CSI Trust Association, which manages the Protestant church in the country, and is headquartered in Chennai.
The Registrar of Companies, through an inspection audit last year and a series of income-tax audits since 2010, found the institution was not providing a clear picture of its accounts and not maintaining a list of properties. CSI Trust Association, incorporated as a religious and charitable company under Section 25 of Companies Act, faces various other allegations including making amendments to its rulebook without the Centre’s approval.
“The order for investigation was received just a week back,” said a top official with the Chennai office of SFIO, on condition of anonymity.
The investigation is the culmination of a campaign — starting in 2007 — by church members who moved agencies from the local police in Coimbatore to the Prime Minister’s Office to probe alleged fraud.
The Prime Minister’s Office on October 10 last year forwarded a petition seeking swift action to the corporate affairs ministry, providing impetus to the probe effort. A report by RoC strongly recommended an SFIO probe in a January 2016 letter to the ministry of corporate affairs.
CSI is said to have filed different balance sheets with various statutory authorities for same Financial Year. “It appears the business of the company is carried out on a fraudulent/unlawful purpose,” read the RoC report that lists a slew of perceived violations: alleged misappropriation of funds, concealment of facts in electing bishops, illegal sale of property and so on. As an instance, the church showed Rs 1,198.3 crore as total income in one annexure and Rs 1,317.3 crore in another for the same financial year.
The fraud office, which has prosecuting powers, will consider possibilities of criminal conspiracy and diversion of funds for personal gain. The SFIO official added the probe will take a minimum of six months.
CSI is managed by a group of bishops called the Synod, who oversee affairs of 23 dioceses and carry out charitable work in over 16,000 villages. Including the Jaffna diocese in Sri Lanka, CSI has 24 dioceses and claims membership of over 4 million.
It is a part of the Anglican Communion and a successor in the subcontinent to the Church of England along with the Church of North India and the Church of Pakistan.