Gospel for Asia, Believers’ Church and Yohannan: Why the Pentecostal Church was involved in illegal money transactions even in USA? (2)
The US case, where his wife Gisela Punnose was involved: The defendants included Gospel for Asia, Inc, Gospel for Asia-International, K P Yohannan, his wife Gisela Punnose, son Daniel Punnose, David Carroll, and Pat Emerick. At the end of February 2019 a settlement was announced. Gospel for Asia agreed to pay 37 million dollars to refund donations to 200,000 donors, $12,210,000 in Plaintiff’s attorney fees and $750,000 in Plaintiff’s attorney’s expenses as expressed in the Final Order and Judgment. According to the settlement agreement, “All funds designated to the field were sent to the field and used for ministry purposes; and no Individual Defendant, as defined herein, received any improper personal gain or enrichment from or related to donated funds”. According to court document, GFA-USA will fund a non-reversionary common settlement fund of $37,000,000 (Rs 261 crore), from which all settlement relief, attorneys’ fees and expenses, and notice and administrative costs would be deducted[1]. “The settlement fund represents the limit and total extent of defendants’ monetary obligations under this agreement and the settlement,” the order stated[2].
2019 settlement of USA case: The settlement agreement also requires that K. P. Yohannan’s wife Gisela Punnose be removed from the board of the charity for three years and for Garland Murphy, one of the plaintiffs, to be given a seat and another person appointed to the board acceptable to both Murphy and K. P. Yohannan; in addition a subcommittee of the board which will include Murphy but neither Yohannan nor his son, Daniel Punnose, will produce annual reports for the board, the Judge and the lead counsel for three years[3]. Gospel For Asia-International (GFAI) recently changed its name to “Ayana Charitable Trust-House No. 303/3, Thengumtharayil, Kuttapuzha P.O., Pathanamthitta District, Kerala-689103”. The FCRA registration number, obviously, remains the same, i.e., KL/52850064. On June 13, 2019, the Court held a Fairness Hearing to determine the violations of GFA. On June 26, 2019, the US Court passed the judgment[4], “Without affecting the finality of this Judgment in any way, the Court shall retain exclusive jurisdiction with respect to implementation and enforcement of the terms of the Agreement, and Defendants, Plaintiffs, and the Settlement Class submit to the jurisdiction of the Court for purposes of implementing and enforcing the terms of the Agreement.”.
June 2019 – Communist government acquires for the airport: Government buying land from B.C.Cheruvally Estate, owned by the K P Yohannan’s Believers’ Church appears to be a big land scam involving the church and the politicians. Nearly three years after finalising the land for the proposed Sabarimala International airport in Erumeli, the state government had given wings to the project by directing Kottayam district collector to initiate proceedings for acquiring the land[5]. As per the order issued by the Revenue Principal Secretary, the entire 2263.18 acres of land in Cheruvally Estate, which is presently under the possession of K P Yohannan’s Believers’ Church, would be acquired for the project[6]. Meanwhile, responding to the government’s move to acquire Cheruvally Estate for the project, Believers’ Church spokesperson Fr Sijo Pandappallil said the Church would accept the decision provided the government acknowledges that ownership of the land is vested with Believers’ Church. In July, 2020 the Kerala High Court had directed the state government not to acquire the land for the airport by force after KP Yohanan moved the court.
2020 – IT raids and related violations: I-T sources said the Union Home Ministry had earlier cancelled the FCRA account of Believers Eastern Church after it was found that foreign funds originally obtained for charity purposes have been diverted for religiousneeds[7]. “The Church had got the foreign contributions through the proper channels. But they had diverted the charity funds for religious purposes. Even after the cancellation of the FCRA account, the Church tried to get funds through other trusts,’’ a source said. I-T officials said they are looking into transactions over the last ten years[8]. The Church had got around Rs 4,000 crore over the years and a chunk of it had gone into construction of institutions and real estate dealings, they said. “We, prima facie, assume that the Church had invested around Rs 1,000 crore in real estate development. The funds for charity have been used for running churches, which is a religious purpose. As the raids are still on, we cannot come to any conclusion about the magnitude of the violations,’’ said a source.
IT – ‘Believers Church used paper firms to route unaccounted money’: I-T department has earlier found out that the church has invested money received in the form of charity in the real estate sector. Sources say that the church has invested about Rs 6,000 crore in the realty sector[9]. Officials have also found that the church used the charity money to give financial aid to politicians also[10]. According to the IT department, the searches were carried out based on credible information that the group, which enjoyed exemption under the I-T Act, 1961 as charitable/religious trust, received donations from foreign countries ostensibly for helping the poor and destitute and evangelical purposes but was actually siphoning off such tax-exempted funds to engage in unaccounted cash transactions for personal and other illegal expenses in real estate transactions[11]. “The evidence found so far indicate that the siphoning of funds in cash may run into several hundred crore. Unaccounted cash of approximately Rs 6 crore, including Rs3.85 crore from a place of worship in Delhi, has also been seized during the search,” the statement said[12]. IT officials said a detailed investigation is on to unearth more shady deals carried out by the group.
In Tamilnadu, temple lands are grabbed, whereas, in Kerala church itself sells lands: It is intriguing, interesting and attracting – drawing attention many, as reverse trend is noted in Keala, as compared to Tamilnadu. In Tamilnadu, the temple properties have been encroached, illegally occupied and even purchased by the Mohammedansm Christians, atheists and anti-Hindu parties. On the contrary, the Believes Church / Pentacoastal church have been acquiring acres of lands belonging to other corporate, forest depot and so on and they again sold to the Govt. departments. Ironically, they claim that they had been so considerate to Hindus and that is why, they even prepared to sell lsnd to set up airport at Erumeli, so that the Ayyappa devotees could land there by flight. Whether, the Pentacoasts have been really caring for heathens or want to do good business by getting a lump sum from the government. Of course, they would involve in all kinds of logistics and utimtely, the hard-earned money of the devotees would go to Mohammedans, christens and communists and later, it ould be used against the Hindu devotees running riot.
© Vedaprakash
08-11-2020
[1] Times of India, Yohannan settles US lawsuit for Rs 261cr, Disney Tom | TNN | Updated: Mar 6, 2019, 13:32 IST.
[2] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/yohannan-settles-us-lawsuit-for-rs-261cr/articleshow/68277698.cms
[3]http://www.gfaclassaction.us/DocumentHandler.ashx?DocPath=/Documents/Settlement_Agreement.pdf
[4]http://www.gfaclassaction.us/DocumentHandler.ashx?DocPath=/Documents/GFA_Final_Order_and_Judgment.pdf
[5] India Express, ,Govt sets ball rolling for Sabarimala airport; may bump into legal hurdles, Published: 19th June 2020 06:37 AM | Last Updated: 19th June 2020 06:37 AM.
[6] https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2020/jun/19/govt-sets-ball-rolling-for-sabarimala-airport-may-bump-into-legal-hurdles-2158428.html
[7] Indian Expess, I-T raids Kerala Church premises on charge of diverting charity funds, Written by Shaju Philip | Thiruvananthapuram | November 7, 2020 2:55:28 am.
[8] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala/i-t-raids-kerala-church-premises-on-charge-of-diverting-charity-funds-6984466/
[9] Kamudi.online, Money received as charity invested in real estate; ED to enquire transactions of believers church, Saturday 07 November, 2020 | 11:09 AM.
[10] https://keralakaumudi.com/en/news/news.php?id=428607&u=money-received-as-charity-invested-in-real-estate-ed-to-enquire-transactions-of-believers-church
[11] Indian Express, ‘Believers Church used paper firms to route unaccounted money’ , Published: 08th November 2020 05:13 AM | Last Updated: 08th November 2020 05:13 AM.
[12] https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2020/nov/08/believers-church-used-paper-firms-to-route-unaccounted-money-2220992.html
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