Bengaluru: The Archdiocese of Bangalore on Thursday vehemently refuted allegations of misappropriation of Rs. 49.50 crore from the Flood Relief Fund that was set up to rehabilitate the victims of the 2018 and 2019 devastating floods and landslides that ravaged Kodagu and Kerala. The allegations appeared in a section of the media in the past couple of days.
In a statement by its PRO office, the Archdiocese of Bangalore said it was deeply disturbed and greatly pained to receive a notice from Justice Michael F. Saldhana (Retd.) on June 9, 2020 over the matter. The notice, however, is signed on his behalf with the heading ‘Grave Criminal Misconduct’ with no identity of the signatory!
“The notice has also been circulated among the newspapers and media. His allegation of misappropriation of Rs. 49.50 crore of the Flood Relief Fund is totally wrong, baseless and far from truth, and has caused a great damage to the credibility of the persons referred to,” the statement said.
The statement further said, “The mobilization of funds was done by the churches, institutions, religious congregations and generous donors mainly to construct houses for these hapless victims. One of the programs was to invite Mr. Sonu Nigam, a renowned singer, for a live music concert, which eventually was cancelled.”
“The charges made in the said notice of misappropriation of an amount of Rs. 49.50 crores is false, fabricated and far from truth. There is no substance in the allegation and appears to be an futile exercise of wild guess without any direction,” the statement stated.
The Archdiocese provided the actual facts:
- The total funds collected towards the flood relief (Kodagu & Kerala) by Archdiocese of Bangalore is Rs 2.15 crore that includes the amount collected for the Souvenir: Rs 70.30 lakh.
- The proposed music concert by Mr. Sonu Nigam was cancelled due to his indisposition as mentioned above.
- The funds collected by the Mysore Diocese is Rs 2.43 crore.
- The total amount collected by the Archdiocese of Bangalore and the Diocese of Mysore for the Flood Victims is Rs. 3.93 crore only.
- The funds from the Archdiocese of Bangalore were sent to the Beneficiary Dioceses through Caritas India, New Delhi.
- The Mysore diocese offered its land to the extent of 4.10 acres at Hadagere Panchyat of Sontikoppa Taluk to construct houses for the flood-hit. The delay in the construction was however due to the pending Government clearance, which was secured very recently on May 16, 2020.
“In the light of the above facts and many more, we reject the baseless allegations totally,” the statement added.