Two arrested for swindling tsunami fund

CHENNAI: A major fraud in the handling of overseas aid that came for tsunami relief to the Church of South India (CSI) has been unearthed with the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Chennai pol

CHENNAI: A major fraud in the handling of overseas aid that came for tsunami relief to the Church of South India (CSI) has been unearthed with the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Chennai police arresting two relatives of a former CSI general secretary, who has been accused of misappropriating Rs 7.5 crore funds.

The charge is that CSI former general secretary, Dr Pauline Sathiamurthy, had siphoned off Rs 7.5 crore aid from the Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), an US-based NGO, along with her husband Sathiyamurthy, daughter Benatikta and a relative Robert Sunil.

Police arrested Benatikta and Robert Sunil and seized a Ford Endeavour car from the duo, but Pauline Sathiamurthy and her husband Sathiamurthy are absconding. The arrested persons have been remanded and lodged in the Puzhal prison.

CCB started investigations on the basis of a complaint from the present CSI general secretary Rev Moses Jayakumar, and found that Pauline Sathiamurthy had appointed his daughter Dr Benatikta as officer in-charge of medical project and her relative Robert Sunil as liaison officer for Tsunami rehabilitation work carried out with the fund and paid a hefty salary of Rs 65,000 per month for the former and Rs 89,000 for the latter.

Her husband Sathiamurthy was also appointed as in-charge of housing project and he also received a heft salary, said G Dilli Babu, investigating officer of the case.  ERD allocated a total of Rs 17.63 crore as tsunami relief fund for rehabilitating victims by constructing houses, buying them boats, fishing nets and medical facilities in 2005.

The fund was allocated to 22 dioceses of the CSI in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh. When Jayakumar took charge as new general secretary of the CSI in 2007, the ERD asked for the account details and the scandal came to light.

Jayakumar formed a one-member enquiry committee under retired High Court Judge Kanagaraj and asked the former general secretary of CSI to submit the accounts. But she failed to submit the account. Moses Jayakumar then lodged a police complaint in December 2008.

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