Four police reports have been lodged against the Pentecostal Church of Singapore for misusing its own members’ money, according to ST.
The church, which follows The Pentecostal Mission in Chennai, India, expects members of its clergy to be celibate, obey elder pastors and give up personal possessions for communal living within the church.
Unfortunately, money problems soon cropped up.
Funds Not Used For Church’s Purpose
Former and current members of the clergy had provided their bank account details (including the personal identification number (PIN)) to the church when instructed to by their pastor, M. Joshua Thiagarajan.
They’d even signed consent forms allowing the church to use their money for its purpose.
Paster Thiagarajan allegedly has access to their accounts and withdrew money totalling $25,000 over several occasions.
The earliest withdrawal stemmed from four years back in May 2016.
Police Reports Filed
In June and July 2020, police reports against the church were filed.
The reports alleged that the pastor had withdrawn, or instructed for the money to be withdrawn, from their accounts for other purposes.
It was confirmed that the staff of the church are assisting in the police investigation.
The church has around 500 members and some were outraged at the incident, especially low-wage workers who gave 10% of their wages as tithe.
As for the pastor, he had initially denied the incident but, after being quizzed about the police investigation, he merely said that he had no comments.
Commissioner Of Charities (COC) Monitoring The Situation
Mr Desmond Chin, the Commissioner of Charities (COC) says that he is aware of the incident.
His office is monitoring the operations of the church, he added, and will take “regulatory actions” under the Charities Act if required.
In 2019, an ex-administration director of Catholic Spiritual Centre (CSC) was caught and jailed four years and four months for embezzling over S$600,000 from the church.
He was a volunteer with the church for 10 years (2004-2014) and had forged cheques, among other things.
Meanwhile, the police are also investigating members of the Singapore chapter of South Korea cult, Shincheonji (SCJ).
21 members have been arrested, with another 11 assisting the police in their investigations.
The police are currently investigating them under the Societies Act, whereby a member of an unlawful society can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
You can read more here.
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