A forensic audit investigating a case of embezzlement in the Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division (SID) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church raises troubling questions about financial misconduct in that division and whether leadership properly handled the ensuing investigation. According to sources familiar with the situation, repercussions continue today for employees who try and raise concerns about issues contained in the audit.
There is a lot more corruption going on there. I know people who worked there and who are still working there and there are just lies and lies and lies. Rules are bent and anything done to cover up money going into peopleâs pockets. Some former employees are also still owed severance payments. If a proper audit is done in that division many more cases of corruption, irregular spending and money wasting will be uncovered.
Stories have been shared about the fear of threats and losing jobs. No one should in any form go through that, even less so in the church!!!
God bless those who are truly trying to do His work in that division surrounded by corruption and nepotism. One day all will be revealed.
Sad: a young accountant was made one of the scapegoats and fired; Raelly âleftâ for the Cape Conference - was it âleftâ or âpushedâ?; one of the directors, who advocated - as with Ratsara and Charles - for the right thing to be done was hounded by the administration.
If a matter is not dealt with, it inevitably resurfaces: Paul Charles has resurfaced: 1. Inspector at ASIC - Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities; 2. The founder of Resilient Faith - ironically a certificate-issuing institution providing training in Christian ministry, headed by âDrâ Paul Charles. (See https://resilientfaith.co.za/about-paul-charles/)
Utter respect to Mr Raelly for standing his ground and unfortunately being pushed out to the Cape Conference, I pray that God will bless him there. There are others who have lost their jobs or felt it necessary to resign and have suffered breakdowns due to trying to stand up for what is right.
Why has it taken so VERY LONG for Spectrum to report on this matter? This once again proves that too many people at SID are not sufficiently competent to hold office. Nepotism rules and to have appointed a person from outside the borders of the country who knows nothing about local contracts and local contractors is where the problem started. Did Russell Raelly report this to the GC officers, and if so, why did they do so little about it??? This is a public shame. Since Coenraad Haupt, the previous Director of the GC Auditing Services retired a few years ago, the GC Auditing Service has deteriorated to a state of inefficiency and near collapse. For them to make the comments they did, is totally unacceptable. Why are there no adequate control measures instituted and the SID??? It is a public disgrace. Who can help rectify this mess?
The reason it has taken so long is because of how scared people are to lose jobs or lose comforts. Anything that goes wrong is swept under the carpet or hushed to not create a bad image with the leaders. Yet now that it has exploded like a boil the mess is even bigger than what was perceived. Another reason is that many times people didnât believe the accusations
Sounds like there is an attitude at the General Conference that âSOULS ARE BEING SAVED! OUR MISSION IS BEING SUPPORTED! So letâs no inquire too closely abut the financialsâŚtoo upsetting⌠Weâll just pretend itâs not happeningâ.
Thank you for reading and responding. If you or someone you know has information to share on these issues, I encourage you to get in touch! Contact Alex Aamodt
Corruption in the SID has been well known for a long time.
The ârelative as a contractorâ is one of the most obvious scams people use to steal money from organizations. In fact, this should be a matter that is against policy, period. I learned about it in intro to accounting, for goodness sake.
I have heard through the grapevine that auditing has been purposefully lax. In other words, the leadership didnât want to have a fiscally tight organization because it likely benefited them to have lax fiscal controls.
The only way to prevent corruption is for the general membership to demand of all aspects of Conference leadership full financial accountability and open books. Why not? What is there to hide? This alone can prevent double entry bookkeeping and hidden accounts, as we know was the case of big banks as in the 2008 Great Recession.
Open book accounting (to all interested observers) is good government and good policyânothing less should be required of all church leaders that handle sizeable amounts of tithe dollars. Without thisâŚthere will always be pockets of corruption and misuse of funding.
I will see who I can try and get hold of, unfortunately again too many times people are scared to speak out of fear of threats and / or losing their jobs
Not totally sure in this case, but the SDA translation of this statement has usually been, ââŚwas eventually fired promoted (or transfered)â Like they did with Ratsara and Charles.
âOh brother Peachan, the Lord is in control of His remnant church; you donât have to worry about those things. Just move on with your life, keep the faith, and leave us aloneâŚâ
That was just one of TWâs âMachiavellian Maneuverâ intended only to intimidate those who support WO.
Doesnât the GC have auditors that audit itâs own Divisions?
When was the last audit conducted at the SID?
Who was the auditor, and what has s/he to say about it.
How much disappearing-money are we talking about here?
Elmer, no wonder our âNutcracker Clinicâ was not yet authorized to move in into the GC building. We may find out that they are mentally slow and totally inept to manage a big organization. Besides, we have women in our staff⌠@cincerity@pattigrant@ageis711Oxyain
Do the unions on this division need to ask the division for some serious answers right now ? Is there on Union President who will be brave enough? What happens from here?
One has to wonder if this can be applied in this situation. Does the SID fall Into this category ? referring to the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act No 12 of 2004 (âPACCAâ), where:
Section 34 places a duty on certain individuals to report corrupt activities to any police official. This duty arises when the relevant individual knows or should reasonably have known, or suspects that a person has committed an offence of corruption, involving R100 000 or more. Failure to report is a criminal offence and carries a penalty of the imposition of a fine or imprisonment of up to 10 years.
This duty is placed on individuals who hold âpositions of authorityâ. PACCA sets out a comprehensive list of persons who hold positions of authority. These include:
⢠the manager, company secretary or a director of a company;
⢠chief executive officers (executives);
⢠any other person who is responsible for the overall management and control of the business of an employer;
⢠any person who has been appointed to the aforementioned positions in acting or temporary capacities are also regarded as persons who hold positions of authority."
