Tax fraud hearing for Indian bishop: The Church of England Newspaper, January 6, 2012, p 7. January 10, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Abuse, Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India.Tags: Christopher Asir, Diocese of Madurai-Ramnad
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Bishop Christopher Asir
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
A bishop of the Church of South India (CSI) and an Indian government minister are set to appear before tax authorities this week to answer charges that they defrauded the Diocese of Madurai-Ramnad of £925,000 by selling church land and pocketing the proceeds.
Bishop Christopher Asir and Mr. M.K. Alagiri – the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers – have been called to appear before the District Collector of Madurai, Mr. U. Sagayam, on 4 Jan 2012. The summons follows an investigation by the revenue divisional officer in Madurai in October to respond to questions over the bishop’s stewardship of church lands.
The investigation began on 28 Jan 2011 Justice V. Kuruppiah of the Madras High Court directed the police to investigate Bishop Asir on charges brought by lay members of the diocese. The bishop was accused of defrauding the diocese by selling church land at below market prices in return for a kickback from the buyer. The investigation was subsequently turned over to the federal tax authorities for investigation.
The transaction under investigation concerned land given to the CSI in 1947. An American missionary society assigned 46.71 acres of land belonging to the Lucy Perry Noble Institute for Women to the Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA). The terms of the transfer required the CSITA to hold the land in perpetuity on behalf of the church and rent the property, using the income to support women’s ministries in the church.
However, Bishop Asir in collusion Mr. Alagiri and Pauline Sathyamurthy, the former treasurer of the CSI who is currently being sought by police in connection with the theft of funds donated by Episcopal Relief and Development to assist survivors of the 2004 tsunami, sold 6.74 acres of land for £2.2 million, pocketing £925,000 of the proceeds. A prima facie case of malfeasance was found to have occurred by the district officer and the case passed to his superiors for investigation.
A second legal headache for Bishop Asir has been resolved in his favour, however. On 23 Nov 2011 the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court dismissed a sexual harassment complaint brought against the bishop by a former staffer, Magdalene Nesakumari.
Ms. Nesakumari alleged she had been sexually harassed by the bishop and denied promotion after she rebuffed his sexual advances. In dismissing petition Justice V Periya Karuppiah said the complaint had been improperly filed and should be first directed to a judicial magistrate for investigation and adjudication.
