Was 7000 crore black money seized from Believers Church in Kerala?
Claim
7000 crore black money seized from Belorussian Eastern Church, Kerala, run by Bishop Johanan Vagayara, caught by the Enforcement Department..
Rating
Explanation
A collage of 500 rupees stacked on a table and a pastor’s image is shared widely on Twitter with the claim that 7000 crore black money is seized from Belorussian Eastern Church, Kerala, run by Bishop Johanan Vagayara, caught by the Enforcement Department. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here. The same claim is viral since 2020.
7000 crore black money seized from Belorussian Eastern Church, Kerala, run by Bishop Johanan Vagayara, caught by the Enforcement Department..
Did any media show or debate this?
a tenth part of this had been blamed on a Hindu saint, the media would have been dancing orgy today. pic.twitter.com/wstfDBsyXg— Alok Srivastava(modi yogi) (@AlokSri07910042) May 25, 2023
What is the truth?
When searching with relevant keywords we found The News Minute article dated 7, November 2020 mentioning that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) conducted the raids on 66 institutions linked to Believer’s Eastern church in various states of India. It is found that the ‘self-styled’ evangelist of the church, based in Kerala’s Thiruvalla, had channelled the donations into real-estate and personal investments.
A total of Rs 6 crore was recovered after the raid, including Rs 3.85 crore from a place of worship in Delhi, CBDT said. The article further mentions that the evidence indicated that the embezzled money could run into hundreds of crores.
The press release by the Income Tax of India mentioned that the search has led to unearthing of many real estate transactions involving unaccounted cash payments. The evidence found indicates that the siphoning of funds in cash may be running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Unexplained cash of approximately Rs. 6 crores has also been found during the search, including Rs 3.85 crore in a place of worship in Delhi.
The Mathrubhumi article reported that the department found that the church has received Rs 6000 cr as foreign aid within the last 5 years. It further mentions that 14.5 crore rupees was seized from the Believers church. Out of the said amount, 7 crores was said to have been recovered from the boot of a car owned by an employee of the hospital under Believers church and the rest of the amount was seized from various places including Delhi. However, this information is not found in the statement released by the IT department.
Conclusion
It is found that 7000 crore was not seized by the IT department from the Believers Church group but an amount of 6 crore was found as per the statement by the department in 2020. It is to be noted that evidence found indicates that the siphoning of funds in cash may be running into hundreds of crores of rupees.
