According to the news agency report, "A report by Registrar of Companies, New Delhi strongly recommended an SFIO probe in a January 2016 letter to the ministry of corporate affairs. The Prime Minister's Office on October 10 last year forwarded a petition seeking swift action to the corporate affairs ministry, providing impetus to the probe effort."

Economic crimes are growing at a fast rate in India and the church is no exception

The Economic Times News Report says, "SFIO defines financial fraud as acts committed by a body corporate in dealings with any bank, financial institution, the general public or any entity holding public funds, thereby causing or likely to cause loss of money or property. When these losses are over Rs 50 crore or affect more than 5,000 people, it will be considered a serious financial fraud and enter the SFIOs domain." The accused, i.e. The CSI/Trust Association allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws and various provisions of the Companies Act.

How effective is the Serious Fraud Investigation Office in India? It is modelled on the UK's Serious Fraud Service and the US' Corporate Fraud Task Force. The SFIO in India, according to the Finance Minister's Report, has investigated as many as 139 cases over the last three years alone. 30,000 prosecutions have been filed against the offenders and fines has been imposed on fraud companies with some of their Managing Directors being sent to jail. This includes some of the leading multi-million dollar Companies in India.

Though SFIO is given a fixed minimum of 180 days to complete the investigation with the Church of South India and its Trust Association which manages the properties of the church, the time will have to be expanded as there are 24 diocesan accounts to be probed with more than 100 higher institutions. The SFIO, India's frontline defence against corporate fraud, has taken 542 days, on an average, to complete investigations on each of the most cases.

The Fraud Investigation Service in UK has higher success rate (85%) in investigations leading to convictions than its Indian counterpart which was founded only in 2003 and does not have an inspiring record. The US Corporate Fraud Task Force's conviction rate is also higher as it brought to book several fraudsters who preyed on Church members and had them arrested. Nevertheless, the thirteen year old SFIO in India, which is in the process of being revamped, has touched some landmarks of successful investigation leading to convictions and arrests. This was achieved despite speed-breakers and delays in the administrative and legal systems in India.

Further there is a shortage of qualified experts from statutory and law enforcement agencies to conduct the probe. This is the worrying factor in the investigation process. It is hoped that there will be good supply experts from various Government departments and law-enforcement bodies. The experts are to be drawn from diverse sectors like banking, capital markets regulation, corporate regulation, law, forensic audit, taxation, information technology working together to unravel corporate frauds.

The SFIO was seen as a toothless body in its initial period but recently in 2012 its powers have been expanded. It has now become 'a statutory body with the ability to initiate prosecution'. "The director of the SFIO will have the power to arrest persons if he has reason to believe that such persons are guilty of certain offences, including fraud under the Companies Bill. An investigator of the SFIO will have the powers vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure with respect to discovery and production of books of accounts and other documents, the inspection of books, registers and other documents and the summoning of and enforcing of attendance of persons." SFIO in India is still in the process of evolving to reach the stature of the Fraud Investigation Agencies in UK and USA.

The members of the CSI all over the world are asked to respect the Indian Government's decision without criticising it as a repressive act by a Hindu Government to threaten or bully the Christian minorities. Let us not stir up our minority complex to hide our sins and throw the blame on others. India constitutionally believes in equality of all religions and as the church in India we pray for the government of India and its leaders every Sunday in our churches. The church should be open for correction and reproof by the State when those measures are particularly aimed to cleanse the church from evils of corruption. The people of the CSI should be in constant vigil that the powerful does not set up lobbying at the political level to cloud or derail the investigation. It is desired that the silent-spectator mind-set found among the theologians and the lay and the ordained will be demolished by now so that they all begin to work towards a constructive change.

The familiar musical prelude played by the bishops and the Synod office-bearers that the allegations of corruption that are brought against the Church authorities are engineered by the disgruntled and anti-church people who failed to occupy positions of power in the church thus implying that the ones at the seats of power illegally are certified successful men chosen and attested by God. That myth will no longer work as the Moderators, bishops and lay-members who were in authority will have to face the music from the investigating supremo, the SFIO. It is time for the skeletons to come tumbling down from the closets of the mighty and the high-profiled, we are sure!

Beware of the arousal of religious affinity using caste and regional affections by fraudsters to gain sympathy and trust form the congregation members at this SOS stage.

The Range of Defiant Reactions from Bishop Dyvasirvadam

The top trustee, the (erstwhile) Moderator, is Rt. Rev. G Dyvasirvadam, who believes that the special audit now undertaken by the income-tax department into the church's books for the period 2003-12 will prove

that it was not a case of deliberate fraud

Does Bp. Dyvasirvadam admit that the SFIO investigation signal wrong-doings in CSI/CSITA? According to him, it is not a matter of 'deliberate' fraud but a 'mild' and 'innocent' fraud. Lack of knowledge about the Law is never an excuse. Ignorance cannot clear the offender from guilt. It is enough to know that one is undertaking acts that constitute an offense.

The mandates and objectives of the special audit from the Income Tax office are in no way similar to that of the SFIO investigation. Special Audit indicates the conducting of investigation to find out 'the nature and complexity of accounts' and to see if any income has escaped assessment, whereas the latter is an Order from the Government to look into a reported economic offenses and to investigate cases of serious corporate fraud, a substantive offence. The report from The Economic Times states, "Registrar of Companies, through an inspection audit last year and a series of income-tax audits since 2010, found the institution (CSITA) was not providing a clear picture of its accounts and not maintaining a list of properties." The Special Audit will further look to confirm these irregularities rather than showing the escape-route when it is almost established that the CSITA was guilty of "managing" its books.

Where are the books? There used to be fuller reports on the sale of properties in the Synod Minute books which got published each year for members to read and find details. In the last 10 years it is very hard to see any source carrying details on property matters. I hope that the files in the office and with the custody of individuals will not vanish and irrelevant documents are not dumped before the officials to frustrate a fair, complete and comprehensive investigation.

Fraudulent practices were perpetuated on CSITA by those who were given stewardship role to protect and manage its assets. It is not enough just to spot the thieves and understand their characteristics but to block the opportunities that are easily available for fraud/theft in the system itself. Hence those who took complaints to the official notice of the Government agencies should continue to do so in order that the Government consistently gives the go-ahead permission to the SFIO at every step of the investigation until the perpetrators are identified and punished and stolen assets are recovered from them. A new type of management is necessary with barriers preventing fraud and theft which will wash the corporate sins of the church away. If no corrective measures are taken by driving the legion of devils out into the pigs, sustainability of the CSI will be made much more difficult in future.

"There was no fraud."

Bp. Dyvasirvadam contradicts himself later by saying, 'There was no Fraud'. It is for the SFIO to find out and tell us that after a thorough inquiry by experts drawn from various departments. Fraud is basically "deception and dishonesty" and a breach of morality. Everything cannot be brought under an umbrella offence of fraud but persistent offenders are incapable of repenting even at the threat of punishment. They are not shaken! For him, "business as usual" by doing the things he enjoyed doing.

"Purported Irregularities happened before his time at the helm"

After a few seconds, Bp. Dyvasirvadam admits what he calls 'purported irregularities' and claims that they happened before his time at the helm. This excuse makes him a buck-passer implying that other persons are the cause for all the discrepancies. His allies and friends who stood with him shoulder to shoulder in elections and electioneering, achieving victory for him by questionable means and supporting him even at the worst times by risking themselves should wake up to see the reality that Bishop Dyvasirvadam is blaming them for all the alleged misdeeds. One would expect from a power-wielder for 20 years at the corridors of the CSI Synod and other international forums a clear message of 'willingness to face' any probe and 'ready to accept' any punishment if convicted.

"Even if one diocese submits accounts with a delay, the entire church gets a bad name," he said.

The SFIO involves only in "serious" cases particularly cases in which there are preliminary official reports of serious 'financial statement fraud'; it does not take up cases of delayed submissions of audited accounts. The SFIO has already sensed abuses of public money in the case of the CSI through a series of reports from the Registrar of Companies, the first level of detecting the problem and then a formal mandate to start the investigation coming from an Order from the Prime Minister's office.

He says that rural parishes have not been prompt in recording income and expenditure as part of their functioning, which resulted in delayed filings with some discrepancies. It is a sheer condescension that Bishop Dyvasirvadam is showing to his people, a witless condescension and moral superiority as if he is more important or more intelligent than the rural folks. Most bishops are chosen from below middle class in Indian society and have had spent their lives in villages before ascending to the episcopal thrones, and for them to brand the villagers as 'backward' is atrocious and worthy of condemnation.

"This is the result of backwardness, not corruption," Dyvasirvadam told The Economic Times by phone.

Corruption is a covert activity and is hard to detect. This gives an edge to religious leaders to claim innocence and moral integrity because they are aware that proving it to convince all five senses of a human being is the hardest or well-nigh impossible task. The specific type of corrupt activities and transactions are done behind closed doors and a high level of confidentiality is maintained between the 'givers' and the 'receivers' of bribes. Bribes are both offered and extorted. Episcopal seats purchased with money are hush-hush deals and nobody involved in it will dare to admit it openly and publicly. These give tremendous advantage to hide the deals and deny openly that there is corruption.

The CSI is engulfed in a systemic corruption well-oiled by persons in power. It seems that for the bishop 'corruption' is probably a semantic issue. It is defined basically as "the abuse of public office for private gain". It means that an official accepts, solicits, or extorts a bribe and also sells church property to obtain secretly personal gain. In corruption, 'a position of trust is being exploited to realize private gains beyond what the position holder is entitled to' and 'even if the gain involved is not illicit under applicable law'. This type of corruption is tolerated and even encouraged in the CSI.

The motivation for fraud and embezzlement is the pressure for the "need" of money to pay back a personal debt, accumulate wealth for oneself, win elections and to maintain authority and control in all circumstances. The system provides opportunities for fraudsters to have access to assets and also ways to conceal the illicit deals. They rationalise in their minds that 'fraud' is okay and as a result lies are generated to justify the covert actions.

Since investigation is set in progress, no further comments are offered at this stage. We appeal that the ACC will not entertain some of the culprits who may seek asylum with the Anglican churches world-wide when the enquiry is going tough for them or when they seek to evade possible punishment. The ACC seems to be engaging in actions in support of Moderators and bishops (both past and present) without fully appreciating the crisis that the church of South India has been subjected to. It is my fervent appeal that the ACC authorities do not quench the spirit of reformation that is evident among the rank-and-file Christians of the CSI and that it takes their concerns seriously and also extends moral support, whenever necessary, to those who are fighting against corruption in the church.

Rev. Dr. Joseph G Muthuraj, Professor of New Testament at the United Theological College, Bangalore, INDIA