Gold scandal hits Koratty St Mary's Forane Church

THRISSUR: A gold scam has surfaced in  the St. Mary's Forane Church at Koratty  belonging to the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese which is already facing a land scam. It is alleged that Father  Mathew Manavalan heading the church known as  ‘Koratti Muthi’ misappropriated  over  three  kg of gold which the faithful had offered to the deity since 2014. An  inquiry commission instituted  by the archdiocese visited the church  on Tuesday evening,  but the members of the laity did not co-operate for a sitting demanding solutions for the issues related to the daily sermons  at the church.

“The priest  had taken charge of the church four years ago and  the gold received as offering was recorded as 5.5 kg then.  When a section of the laity alleged misappropriation, a 15-member committee, including the priest,  was formed and he conceded that the total quantity of gold received was 6.5 kg and   not 3.25 kg as he claimed earlier.      He said that the gold was sold for construction activities of the church which owns schools and a hospital,  but  there were no accounts or documents to prove it,”  Mr Shaiju Paul, who was in the committee representing the laity said.

The priest was reluctant to accept the report of the inquiry conducted by the committee and the archdiocese then formed  a four-member commission. “The auditing is held annually at the parish but the accounts given by the priest were  verified without cross-examining the assets,” Mr Paul noted. The officials of the archdiocese said that the commission would conduct an inquiry into the  allegations raised by the laity.