tsunami funds being diverted by christist priest?

dec 17th

wouldn't surprise me in the least. the church needs the money, after all, as all those conversion efforts are quite expensive. have to give the converts money, and since they are converting so many, it just adds up quickly.

the person who mailed this to me wondered if sister cecily will be the next sister abhaya. quite possibly, sister cecily had better be really really careful. sister abhaya, in case you have forgotten, was the nun who turned up drowned in the well of a christist nunnery a few years ago. although there were accusations about the involvement of shadowy church higher-ups, the coverup has been very successful. for instance, no bishop or pope or other godman was dragged off to jail on a non-bailable warrant on accusation of murder.

of course such things are only supposed to happen to hindu monks.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R
Date: Dec 16, 2005 1:21 PM
Subject: Sr Cecily could be the next Sr Abhaya

NGOs cross swords over tsunami relief dollars

source : (The Pioneer, dated 17-Dec-2005) Arun Jayan/ Thiruvananthapuram Infighting among non-governmental oraganisations is becoming murkier. Be it in the Adivasi community or among fishermen, or any other areas, such as ecology, culture, herbs, rustic know-how or AIDS, the NGOs of late are engaged in a pitched battle as they attach more importance to the inflow of dollars and euros than to the cause they are projecting.

Literate Kerala had witnessed many such feuds that led to splitting NGO groups, such as Mithra Niketan, Samskriti, etc.

Even priests and nuns seem to be after big money as is evident from the latest bickering in the World Forum of Fisher Peoples. Fr Thomas Kochery, known as the champion of the fisherfolks' cause, is very much involved in this forum as a special invitee. The organisation is on the verge of a spilt if the allegations and counter-allegations coming from within the WFFP, Kerala chapter, are anything to go by.

The rift has reached such serious dimensions that WFFP secretary Sr Cecily Plathottam, is under police protection. Addressing newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram, Sr Cecily, who was accompanied by two women cops, accused Fr Kochery of embezzling tsunami funds. She also says her life is under threat ever since she questioned his way of spending funds received for the welfare of the fisherfolk.

She alleged that Fr Kochery had received more than Rs 100 crore from various foreign funding agencies for the rehabilitation of tsunami-affected fishermen. "However, he is not ready to clarify as to what he did with this money," she said. She added that Mr Herman Kumara, general secretary of WFFP, was diverting the money to his personal account under the direction of Thomas Kochery.

"Madurai-based NGO Muhil and a Redemptorist community in Manavalakurichy in Kanyakumari and National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) are handling the fund but there are no specific records for the money spent on the project. What I demand is that they should clarify about the total money that was funded by foreign agencies and how much had been spent and how it was spent," she said.

She added that since she was speaking about the misuse of money flowing into these NGOs, she was facing threat from many corners. However, an action council formed in defence of Fr Thomas Kochery, having its office at Manavalakurichy, said that Fr Kochery widely publicised the needs of the tsunami-affected people, giving details of the extent of damages, as it was known at that time, and a rough estimate of the amount of money that might be needed for the rehabilitation work.

He did not send any project proposal to any funding agency. In his appeal, he had given the addresses of some of the NGOs and church organisations, both in India and Sri Lanka, who had FCRA numbers and who were willing to receive funds and account for them.

His intention in circulating the needs of the time was not to collect funds himself, but to enthuse possible donors to come forward and make their contribution to any agency or NGO who had the facility to receive foreign funds and had the infrastructure to do relief and rehabilitation work.

Further, they said that WFFP was an international forum. Though Fr Thomas Kochery is acclaimed as a leader of the fisher peoples all over the world, he is not the coordinator of the WFFP as Sr Cecily mentions in the accusation, they added.

"The WFFP bank account is in France and that is controlled by a treasurer who is French, two coordinators, one a New Zealander and the other a Senegalese, and the general secretary, who is a Sri Lankan. Thus, Fr Kochery will not be able to state as to what exactly was the effect of the appeal he made," the action committee said in the statement.

Fr Kochery, who was in Honk Kong, when contacted by The Pioneer, was in full agreement with the action council and clarified that people of goodwill would ignore the malicious propaganda that some persons, for reasons known to themselves, were going against him.