The Archdiocese of Bangalore is deeply disturbed and greatly pained to receive a Notice from Justice Michael F. Saldhana (Retd.) on 09th June 2020. The notice however is signed on his behalf with the heading ‘Grave Criminal Misconduct’ with no identity of the signatory! It has also been circulated among the Newspapers and Media. His allegation of misappropriation of 49. 50 Crores 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.
This Relief Fund was collected by the Archdiocese of Bangalore, in coordination with the Diocese of Mysore, to rehabilitate the victims of the 2018 and 2019 devastating floods and landslides that ravaged Kodagu and Kerala.
The mobilization of Funds was done by our 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.
Here are the actual facts:
The total funds collected towards the flood relief (Kodagu & Kerala) by
Archdiocese of Bangalore is Rs 2.15 Crores that includes the amount
collected for the Souvenir: Rs 70.30 Lakhs.
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 Crores.
The total amount collected by the Archdiocese of Bangalore and the
Diocese of Mysore for the Flood Victims is 3.93 Crores 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 the Houses. The
delay in the construction was however due to the pending Government
clearance, which was secured very recently on 16-05-2020.
In the light of the above facts and many more, we reject the baseless allegations totally.
J A Kanthraj
PRO & SPOKESPERSON
Archdiocese of Bangalore