Three Years On, Church of South India Trust Association Under SFIO Lens For Massive Financial Irregularities 

Entrusted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has been carrying out investigations over allegations of massive irregularities in selling the land, misuse of deposits and foreign funds, across all the 23 dioceses in the country falling under the Church of South India, reports the Indian Expose.

After Bishop Govada Dyvasirvadam was arrested in January last year on allegations of misappropriating church funds to the tune of hundreds of crores, the Andhra Pradesh CID officials had found large scale irregularities in the management of Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA).

The bishop is facing serious charges of embezzling over USD 80 million for his personal use, after misusing his power to effect an unauthorised sale of church property.

In the FIR, it was found that the bishop was culpable under many crimes falling under the ambit of various sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with dishonesty, misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, falsification of accounts, acts done by several persons together in furtherance of a common intention.

This action against the CSITA commenced after B. Yohan, former secretary of the Krishna-Godavari diocese had filed a complaint on 13 October 2017 against the bishop to the Crime Branch of the CID (CB-CID) in Hyderabad.

Owing to the recurrence of such discrepancies over the years, the CSITA, which is registered as a Religious and Charitable Company which has no business character and with no profit motive, has been under the SFIO lens for three years now.

The Registrar of Companies in Madras, on January 12, 2016, submitted a 45-page report MoCA recommending an investigation by SFIO. Amid all the legal impediments in the wake of several petitions by CSITA in the Madras and Hyderabad High Courts pleading not to further the investigation, the SFIO investigations, as of today, continue into the financial irregularities of the trust.