benedictdilton

Rs 1040 Crores collected from all over the world in name of charity and rehabilitation of orphans used to purchase 2800 acres of land. According to Kerala home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the church, formed under a trust called Gospel for Asia, has received Rs 1,044 crore in foreign donations in the last 15 years. Using that money, the home minister says the church has bought nearly 2,800 acres of land, including a 2,200-acre rubber estate. Worse, the seven-member Gospel for Asia trust is found to have been packed with Yohannan’s family members, including his wife, children and brothers. “It’s all highly irregular and unlawful,” Balakrishnan says, explaining that under the law, a family can hold only 15 acres. The revenue department has been asked to “take over” 580 acres, pending an inquiry into how the “church had bought the 2,200-acre rubber estate from a private company when the estate was on leasehold and thus not saleable,” he says.