Hindu Endowments Board to Improve Monitoring of Gold Items at Temples After Misappropriation by Ex-Priest

In case you’ve missed it, a certain someone got itchy-handed with gold items at a temple last year.

While it wasn’t the first time religious leaders behaved inappropriately, steps have been taken to make sure that this incident would not be repeated again.

Hindu Endowments Board to Improve Monitoring of Gold Items at Temples After Misappropriation by Ex-Priest

According to Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), the temples’ committees will keep a closer eye on the gold inventories in their temples.

The Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) will also improve the monitoring of items at temples, including more audits.

Surprise audits are also a part of the plan.

No Other Irregularities Found

After the misappropriation case last year, HEB, which routinely inspects all four of its temples, did a special audit of the temples’ ceremonial jewellery.

All other temples had their jewellery accounted for.

HEB also worked with the Commissioner of Charities to review and strengthen its internal controls and governance to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Moving forward, HEB will continue working with the temples under its charge to prevent any abuse.

The lessons learnt from the incident last year will also be conveyed to the other temples.

Chief Priest of S’pore Old’s Hindu Temple Arrested

Back in Aug 2020, the chief priest of Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple, the Sri Mariamman Temple, was arrested by the police for criminal breach of trust

A police report had been lodged about gold ornaments that had gone missing while under the care of its chief priest, Sivashri Kandasamy Senapathi.

According to the temple’s spokesperson, the gold ornaments in question are frequently used for prayer and are kept by its chief priest in the inner sanctum of the temple.

Regular audits are done to ensure that the ornaments are physically accounted for.

“During the last audit, it was discovered (that) some gold ornaments were missing”, the temple spokesperson said.

After he was questioned, the chief priest returned all the missing gold ornaments and further checks confirmed that the missing ornaments were all accounted for.

Pawned & Redeemed Over Four Years

The 37-year-old Indian national, Kandasamy Senapathi, had allegedly misappropriated 172 pieces of gold ornaments from the temple for over 4 years.

Investigations revealed that he took the ornaments and pawned them when he needed money, then redeemed the ornaments when he had enough cash and returned them to the temple.

He is currently facing five counts each of Criminal Breach of Trust and transferring money from Singapore to India.

According to Singapore Legal Advice, a criminal breach of trust (CBT) occurs when a person who is entrusted with property:

• Converts that property for his own use;
• Misappropriates that property
• Uses/Disposes of that property in violation of a law or contract
• Deliberately allows another person to do any of the above

Those found guilty of committing CBT can face up to 7 years of imprisonment and/or a fine, the amount of which the court will determine.

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