Gali Arulraj's scamming website for the bogus "New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped" went online again last Thursday.
By Saturday morning it was down again. It's still down.
Showing posts with label New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Gali Arulraj - a priest with no shame
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| Gali Arulraj's scamming website back online today - he has no shame |
Gali Arulraj's scamming website for the bogus New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped went online again today, having been taken down one month ago.
The website has been carefully constructed so that everything is in image form, preventing words from being traced by google or other search engines. Most of the pages are entitled "Untitled Document" so they won't be picked up on search engines. Does even one legitimate website go to such lengths to ensure that it won't be traced?!
Obviously, during the past month Arulraj must have been missing out on the funds he had been able to scam while it was up, and he decided it was worth taking the chance of putting it up again.
Yet again, he offensively uses photographs of disabled children who have never even heard of a so-called "New Life Society," let alone benefited from it - in order to enrich himself.
Yet again, he uses religious imagery: pictures of Jesus Christ and Blessed Theresa of Calcutta are prominently displayed - in order to deceive and steal from charitable Christians, especially those who are Catholics.
And this is done by a priest who flaunts his priestly credientials and insists on being called "Fr Gali Arulraj" when it suits his purposes, but at other times (as with his website) uses the subterfuge of calling himself "Mr G A Raj."
All this is made worse by the fact that his bishop, Bishop Moses Prakasam of the Diocese of Nellore, has been fully informed of the situation and continues to do nothing about it.
All this is made worse by the fact that his bishop, Bishop Moses Prakasam of the Diocese of Nellore, has been fully informed of the situation and continues to do nothing about it.
Arulraj has the confidence to do whatever he likes because he knows his bishop will do nothing about it.
Bishop Prakasam, we know that Arulraj has no shame. As the Bishop responsible for your errant priest: have you no shame too?
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Arulraj's scamming New Life Society website down
The website has been down for more than 24 hours, which suggests that there is not merely a temporary problem with it. If you go to the website you get a HTTP 403 Forbidden notice, which indicates that access to the website is being deliberately denied by the server. It is too early to say whether the website might be made active again.
Given that Arulraj went to the trouble and expense of setting up the website as part of his scam to make money, its removal is very welcome. In itself it has justified the presence of this blog.
The continued presence of this blog is also more than justified as a warning to anyone who is a potential victim of a scam by "Fr Gali Arulraj" or "Mr G.A. Raj" working for the "Dayananda Nilayam Society for Social Development", the "New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped", or (another of his made-up charity names) the "Home for the Orphans and Disabled Children."
The blog will also stay in order to draw attention to any new scams that come to my notice.
Of course, with the exposure that "Mr G.A. Raj" was in fact Arulraj, he may have wanted his scamming New Life Society website removed as it was further evidence of his ongoing criminal activities. If there are any police officers, tax officials, Delhi Home Ministry officials, NGO Registration officials, FCRA investigators, or anybody else who needs evidence of the scamming website then they can still get that evidence. I made copies of everything that was on the website and will be happy to make them available.
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| The scamming website has been down since 28 March - not even its logo remains |
Well, would you believe it again?! It took a little longer, but after last week's removal of the Linked-In profile for "Fr Gali Arulraj" we now have the removal of the website of his scamming "New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped."
The website has been down for more than 24 hours, which suggests that there is not merely a temporary problem with it. If you go to the website you get a HTTP 403 Forbidden notice, which indicates that access to the website is being deliberately denied by the server. It is too early to say whether the website might be made active again.
Given that Arulraj went to the trouble and expense of setting up the website as part of his scam to make money, its removal is very welcome. In itself it has justified the presence of this blog.
The continued presence of this blog is also more than justified as a warning to anyone who is a potential victim of a scam by "Fr Gali Arulraj" or "Mr G.A. Raj" working for the "Dayananda Nilayam Society for Social Development", the "New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped", or (another of his made-up charity names) the "Home for the Orphans and Disabled Children."
The blog will also stay in order to draw attention to any new scams that come to my notice.
Of course, with the exposure that "Mr G.A. Raj" was in fact Arulraj, he may have wanted his scamming New Life Society website removed as it was further evidence of his ongoing criminal activities. If there are any police officers, tax officials, Delhi Home Ministry officials, NGO Registration officials, FCRA investigators, or anybody else who needs evidence of the scamming website then they can still get that evidence. I made copies of everything that was on the website and will be happy to make them available.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
"Father" Arulraj no more?
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| The Linked-In profile of "Fr Gali Arulraj" that is no more - removed today (22 March 2012) |
(If you google the name "Gali Arulraj" the first thing that comes up still is a reference to the Linked-In profile. Although the link to the profile itself no longer works, you can still see Google's cached image of 6 March 2012.).
Dare we hope that Arulraj's conscience has been awakened and that he realises how greatly he insults the Catholic priesthood by presenting himself as a priest?
Dare we hope that we are closer to the day when Arulraj is no longer able to present himself as a priest?
Let's see if the website of his (scamming) "New Life Society" will be removed next.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
How the scam works
How could Gali Arulraj get away with scamming Enable and other agencies for so many years? Didn't Enable monitor the projects? Didn't Enable view his society's accounts?
In fact, Enable was more conscientious about monitoring the projects in India than most comparable international agencies. Two of Enable's trustees visited the projects in India in 1995, 1997, and 1998. Thereafter, at least two trustees (and usually more) visited each January between 2001 and 2006, each visit lasting two weeks. During those January visits Enable's trustees closely monitored how well the projects were functioning, discussed possible developments, and went carefully through the accounts statements with Gali Arulraj and Vatakili Paulinraj. We examined the formal accounts we had received for the financial year (ending in March), which were signed off by the chartered account, Mr Parchuri Venkata Ranganadham (whom I met). We also examined an informal set of accounts for the calendar year (January to December) and based subsequent funding decisions on (what we reasonably believed to be) accurate and reliable information.
As has been described in the first post on this blog, the chartered accountant signed off statements of the accounts knowing them to be entirely false. They were tailor-made to deceive Enable. There is nothing that an overseas aid agency can do in the face of systematic corruption by people who are willing not only to violate their professional code of ethics but to break the law. It was only by chance that Enable uncovered Arulraj's scam with the DNSSD after discovering that Mr Ranganadham had falsely certified the accounts of another charity.
The formal sets of DNNSD accounts were also signed off by Arulraj (as shown in the picture above). The informal accounts, which were equally false, were signed off by both Arulraj and Paulinraj (below).
How the scams in countries like India work:
Scam Level 1: At this level scams are simple. The scammer provides no service whatsoever, but provides potential donors with plans, e.g., to provide a community water pump. If the scammer gets funding, he merely obtains old photos from other service providers and sends them to the donors showing them how well their money was used. (Their donation, of course, has helped nobody but the scammer). Of course, even scams like this require an investment from the scammer - there are costs involved in getting letters and photos printed and mailed overseas. If the investment is £300, but results in funds of £5,000 then the investment is well worth it.
Scam Level 2. Scams at this level require a little more investment if there is a chance that there may at some point be monitoring of the projects for which funding is sought. If the scammer is obtaining funds for a school for 100 poor children, he might rent a small property and village children might be invited occasionally for something like a cultural programme or medical check-up. He might give a cash incentive to the children's family to encourage the participation of the children. If someone from an international agency were to visit, the scammer would make sure that the children were in attendance during the few hours that the visit would take place. It would be unlikely that the visitor spoke the children's language and so he or she could not directly question the children. Compared with Level 1 scams, the scammer might have to make a larger investment, say £5,000 but it would be well worth it if the returns were, say, £20,000.
Scam Level 3. At this level the scammer has to work much harder and actually provide a real service that has real beneficiaries. Arulraj's scam during the years 1995 - 2006 worked at this level, and the harder he worked the more lucrative it became. The fact that he could verifiably demonstrate significant benefits to those in need - by providing surgery, educating very disabled children, building more residential centres, etc. - made it easier to gain the confidence of donors. A Level 3 scammer would, for example, seek £5,000 from a donor for surgery for 25 children and then show the donor photos of the children after they had it. Two or three other donors would make the same donation (believing they were funding the surgery) and receive the same photos. With this scam, 25 children would have benefited from surgery, but this would effectively be an 'investment' by the scammer, who would be keeping for himself the 'duplicate' donations for the same service. At this level, the scam requires fraudulent accounting. Arulraj's scam worked thanks to the complicity of his chartered accountant Mr P.V. Ranganadham. Yes, Arulraj did provide an actual service for a large number of disabled children. Enable's intensive monitoring over several years required this. During the financial year 2005-2006 Arulraj's 'investment' (i.e., the amount he spent from donations to DNSSD on providing a concrete service for disabled children) was about £185,000. However, he ciphoned off for himself a similar sized amount from donations not declared in the DNSSD accounts.
Ironically, it was Arulraj who explained to me (when we were on good terms before 2006) how scams work in India, though he spoke only of Level 1 and Level 2 scams, of which he was contemptuous. He spoke about the scams as a contrast to the 'genuine' service that he was providing! He didn't speak of Level 3 scams (which is not surprising!), yet these are, in my view, even more contemptible. Arulraj knew the serious needs of disabled children in his region. He knew that although many were being helped, so many others desperately lacked the care and support - medical, personal, social and educational - that would have made an enormous difference to their lives and the lives of the families. He stole from those who have needs greater than anything he will ever experience. His theft demonstrates that he was not concerned about caring for disabled children. For him they were merely a business: the bigger the 'investment,' the greater his financial reward.
Having been a Level 3 scammer until 2006, Arulraj Raj is now an occasional Level 2 scammer, but generally operates now at Level 1.
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| Fraudulent DNSSD accounts for the financial year ending March 2006 signed off by the chartered accountant and Gali Arulraj |
How could Gali Arulraj get away with scamming Enable and other agencies for so many years? Didn't Enable monitor the projects? Didn't Enable view his society's accounts?
In fact, Enable was more conscientious about monitoring the projects in India than most comparable international agencies. Two of Enable's trustees visited the projects in India in 1995, 1997, and 1998. Thereafter, at least two trustees (and usually more) visited each January between 2001 and 2006, each visit lasting two weeks. During those January visits Enable's trustees closely monitored how well the projects were functioning, discussed possible developments, and went carefully through the accounts statements with Gali Arulraj and Vatakili Paulinraj. We examined the formal accounts we had received for the financial year (ending in March), which were signed off by the chartered account, Mr Parchuri Venkata Ranganadham (whom I met). We also examined an informal set of accounts for the calendar year (January to December) and based subsequent funding decisions on (what we reasonably believed to be) accurate and reliable information.
As has been described in the first post on this blog, the chartered accountant signed off statements of the accounts knowing them to be entirely false. They were tailor-made to deceive Enable. There is nothing that an overseas aid agency can do in the face of systematic corruption by people who are willing not only to violate their professional code of ethics but to break the law. It was only by chance that Enable uncovered Arulraj's scam with the DNSSD after discovering that Mr Ranganadham had falsely certified the accounts of another charity.
The formal sets of DNNSD accounts were also signed off by Arulraj (as shown in the picture above). The informal accounts, which were equally false, were signed off by both Arulraj and Paulinraj (below).
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| Fraudulent informal DNSSD accounts for the calendar year Jan- Dec 2005, signed by Paulinraj and Arulraj, presented to Enable's trustees in January 2006 in order to raise funds by deception. (This is my copy and the scribbling on the right hand side is mine, converting the figures given in Indian rupees into pounds. This is the summary page and further details were provided on attached pages.) |
How the scams in countries like India work:
Scam Level 1: At this level scams are simple. The scammer provides no service whatsoever, but provides potential donors with plans, e.g., to provide a community water pump. If the scammer gets funding, he merely obtains old photos from other service providers and sends them to the donors showing them how well their money was used. (Their donation, of course, has helped nobody but the scammer). Of course, even scams like this require an investment from the scammer - there are costs involved in getting letters and photos printed and mailed overseas. If the investment is £300, but results in funds of £5,000 then the investment is well worth it.
Scam Level 2. Scams at this level require a little more investment if there is a chance that there may at some point be monitoring of the projects for which funding is sought. If the scammer is obtaining funds for a school for 100 poor children, he might rent a small property and village children might be invited occasionally for something like a cultural programme or medical check-up. He might give a cash incentive to the children's family to encourage the participation of the children. If someone from an international agency were to visit, the scammer would make sure that the children were in attendance during the few hours that the visit would take place. It would be unlikely that the visitor spoke the children's language and so he or she could not directly question the children. Compared with Level 1 scams, the scammer might have to make a larger investment, say £5,000 but it would be well worth it if the returns were, say, £20,000.
Scam Level 3. At this level the scammer has to work much harder and actually provide a real service that has real beneficiaries. Arulraj's scam during the years 1995 - 2006 worked at this level, and the harder he worked the more lucrative it became. The fact that he could verifiably demonstrate significant benefits to those in need - by providing surgery, educating very disabled children, building more residential centres, etc. - made it easier to gain the confidence of donors. A Level 3 scammer would, for example, seek £5,000 from a donor for surgery for 25 children and then show the donor photos of the children after they had it. Two or three other donors would make the same donation (believing they were funding the surgery) and receive the same photos. With this scam, 25 children would have benefited from surgery, but this would effectively be an 'investment' by the scammer, who would be keeping for himself the 'duplicate' donations for the same service. At this level, the scam requires fraudulent accounting. Arulraj's scam worked thanks to the complicity of his chartered accountant Mr P.V. Ranganadham. Yes, Arulraj did provide an actual service for a large number of disabled children. Enable's intensive monitoring over several years required this. During the financial year 2005-2006 Arulraj's 'investment' (i.e., the amount he spent from donations to DNSSD on providing a concrete service for disabled children) was about £185,000. However, he ciphoned off for himself a similar sized amount from donations not declared in the DNSSD accounts.
Ironically, it was Arulraj who explained to me (when we were on good terms before 2006) how scams work in India, though he spoke only of Level 1 and Level 2 scams, of which he was contemptuous. He spoke about the scams as a contrast to the 'genuine' service that he was providing! He didn't speak of Level 3 scams (which is not surprising!), yet these are, in my view, even more contemptible. Arulraj knew the serious needs of disabled children in his region. He knew that although many were being helped, so many others desperately lacked the care and support - medical, personal, social and educational - that would have made an enormous difference to their lives and the lives of the families. He stole from those who have needs greater than anything he will ever experience. His theft demonstrates that he was not concerned about caring for disabled children. For him they were merely a business: the bigger the 'investment,' the greater his financial reward.
Having been a Level 3 scammer until 2006, Arulraj Raj is now an occasional Level 2 scammer, but generally operates now at Level 1.
Saturday, 17 March 2012
New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped - The Scam
You receive a letter or email from an organisation in India, describing the dire need of children who are disabled, homeless, sick, orphaned, hungry or needing clean water. Of course, you are moved by compassion and want to help - but you wonder whether the appeal is authentic. Could it not, after all, be a scam? One way of checking its authenticity, you might think, is to see what is said about the organisation online.
An online search for The New Life Society for the Poor and Handicaped will reveal a professionally produced website http://thenewlifesociety.com/ for what appears to be a credible society, actively working for some of the poorest in India. The impressive-looking website (expensively produced by Bhoomica InfoGraphics in Hyderabad, A.P., as a little background checking reveals) suggests that you can confidently donate and that your contribution will make a difference to the lives of those greatly in need.
But is the "New Life Society" really as it seems?
Unfortunately...no.
Some Scam Observations
1. The contact details of the '"New Life Society" on the "Contact us" page are "Rehabilitation Centre, Annavarapadu, Ongole." This is, in fact, the address of a Centre, the construction of which was funded by Enable and which is legally owned by the Dayananda Nilayam Society for Social Development (DNSSD). Until the criminal case concerning Arulraj and the DNSSD comes to trial it is unlawful for this property to be sold. This has been Arulraj's base since 2001.
2. DNSSD was primarily involved with supporting disabled children. The many photos of children on the "New Life Society" site were supported by DNSSD before 2006. It is particularly reprehensible that they should now be used as part of Arulraj's scam, given that most of them were abandoned by Arulraj in 2006. Amongst those children who remained in one of the DNSSD centres after that date were some - included in the website photos - who credibly told me and others personally in January 2007 that they had been intimidated and even beaten by DNSSD personnel after Enable's association with DNSSD ended in May 2006. (I will write more about this in another post)
3. Not even one photo of the children on the website was taken after 2006. Some photos were taken in 2003-2004. I know that some of the photos were taken in January 2002. How do I know? Because I took them and possess the originals and negatives! And I very much object to my own photographs being used now as part of Arulraj's scam.
4. An impressive list of other services is given. Some of them are wholly fictitious: having photographs of elderly people attending a function (at a DNSSD centre!) and providing them with a meal (as happens at such functions in India) does not constitute care for them, and there is not even one "old age home" run by any organisation with which Arulraj is involved. Several years ago Enable provided DNSSD with funds for such things as polio surgeries, hand water pumps, and vocational training courses, and so Arulraj has photographs to show an involvement with such things. But those days are in the distant past.
5. In the "About Us" page it states that the New Life Society was registered in Andhra Pradesh in 1999. Either it was registered later than that date (in which case the site is being deliberately deceptive) or it has been scamming since then and raising money for non-existent projects -- possibly claiming that DNSSD projects (funded by Enable) were projects of the New Life Society, with Arulraj pocketing all the donations received for them. If the New Life Society had actually been doing any concrete public service since 1999, why are all the photographs on the website of activities associated with the DNSSD?
6. On the "project experiences" page it says that the New Life Society has "3 decades of experienced management in the community development." This is quite a remarkable accomplishment for a Society registered, according to the same website, for 13 not 30 years. This, and the other 'experiences' are entirely made up. It sounds great, but has no substance to it whatsoever.
7. One page describes "Our team" - but only one person is in fact mentioned: "Mr G. A. Raj." He is described as having "undergone a number of interstate, national and international exposures." As the name "Mr G.A. Raj" has received no exposure until now, this is in fact untrue. However, given that his alter-ego "Fr Gali Arulraj" has been widely exposed as a fraudster, scammer, and thief, perhaps it should be applauded as a uniquely truthful statement. As he clearly esteems exposure, I trust that Arulraj will be grateful for the exposure given to him by this blog.
8. If its Director is "Fr Gali Arulraj" (as stated on Arulraj's Linked-In profile) why the deception on the New Life Society website that its Director is Mr. G.A. Raj?
9. The prominent display of images of Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Jesus Christ on the website promoting such a despicable scam, shows Arulraj's contempt for the religion of which he is supposed to be a priest.
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| An impressive looking website helps to promote the scam |
An online search for The New Life Society for the Poor and Handicaped will reveal a professionally produced website http://thenewlifesociety.com/ for what appears to be a credible society, actively working for some of the poorest in India. The impressive-looking website (expensively produced by Bhoomica InfoGraphics in Hyderabad, A.P., as a little background checking reveals) suggests that you can confidently donate and that your contribution will make a difference to the lives of those greatly in need.
But is the "New Life Society" really as it seems?
Unfortunately...no.
Some Scam Observations
1. The contact details of the '"New Life Society" on the "Contact us" page are "Rehabilitation Centre, Annavarapadu, Ongole." This is, in fact, the address of a Centre, the construction of which was funded by Enable and which is legally owned by the Dayananda Nilayam Society for Social Development (DNSSD). Until the criminal case concerning Arulraj and the DNSSD comes to trial it is unlawful for this property to be sold. This has been Arulraj's base since 2001.
2. DNSSD was primarily involved with supporting disabled children. The many photos of children on the "New Life Society" site were supported by DNSSD before 2006. It is particularly reprehensible that they should now be used as part of Arulraj's scam, given that most of them were abandoned by Arulraj in 2006. Amongst those children who remained in one of the DNSSD centres after that date were some - included in the website photos - who credibly told me and others personally in January 2007 that they had been intimidated and even beaten by DNSSD personnel after Enable's association with DNSSD ended in May 2006. (I will write more about this in another post)
3. Not even one photo of the children on the website was taken after 2006. Some photos were taken in 2003-2004. I know that some of the photos were taken in January 2002. How do I know? Because I took them and possess the originals and negatives! And I very much object to my own photographs being used now as part of Arulraj's scam.
4. An impressive list of other services is given. Some of them are wholly fictitious: having photographs of elderly people attending a function (at a DNSSD centre!) and providing them with a meal (as happens at such functions in India) does not constitute care for them, and there is not even one "old age home" run by any organisation with which Arulraj is involved. Several years ago Enable provided DNSSD with funds for such things as polio surgeries, hand water pumps, and vocational training courses, and so Arulraj has photographs to show an involvement with such things. But those days are in the distant past.
5. In the "About Us" page it states that the New Life Society was registered in Andhra Pradesh in 1999. Either it was registered later than that date (in which case the site is being deliberately deceptive) or it has been scamming since then and raising money for non-existent projects -- possibly claiming that DNSSD projects (funded by Enable) were projects of the New Life Society, with Arulraj pocketing all the donations received for them. If the New Life Society had actually been doing any concrete public service since 1999, why are all the photographs on the website of activities associated with the DNSSD?
6. On the "project experiences" page it says that the New Life Society has "3 decades of experienced management in the community development." This is quite a remarkable accomplishment for a Society registered, according to the same website, for 13 not 30 years. This, and the other 'experiences' are entirely made up. It sounds great, but has no substance to it whatsoever.
7. One page describes "Our team" - but only one person is in fact mentioned: "Mr G. A. Raj." He is described as having "undergone a number of interstate, national and international exposures." As the name "Mr G.A. Raj" has received no exposure until now, this is in fact untrue. However, given that his alter-ego "Fr Gali Arulraj" has been widely exposed as a fraudster, scammer, and thief, perhaps it should be applauded as a uniquely truthful statement. As he clearly esteems exposure, I trust that Arulraj will be grateful for the exposure given to him by this blog.
8. If its Director is "Fr Gali Arulraj" (as stated on Arulraj's Linked-In profile) why the deception on the New Life Society website that its Director is Mr. G.A. Raj?
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| A cynical manifestation of religious idealism - by a priest of all people - to promote a scam |
9. The prominent display of images of Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Jesus Christ on the website promoting such a despicable scam, shows Arulraj's contempt for the religion of which he is supposed to be a priest.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
An introduction to (Fr) Gali Arulraj
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| Gali Arulraj - a scamming, thieving Catholic priest with a 'wife' and kids |
Gali Arulraj is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Nellore, in Andhra Pradesh state, South India. He was ordained a priest in 1981.
While parish priest in the town of Kanigiri, he established an independent charity, called the Dayananda Nilayam Society for Social Development (DNSSD). Since its inception Arulraj has been Director of DNSSD.
Between 1998 and 2006 the main donor to DNSSD was a registered UK charity, Enable (Working in India).
Since 2006, Enable has discovered that Arulraj, with associates, embezzled donations in excess of one million pounds.
In 2007, Gali Arulraj and three associates were charged by the Indian police, at Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, with a number of criminal offences, including theft, criminal conspiracy, 'cheating' and fraud. Those charged with Arulraj are (Fr) Vatakili Paulinraj (Arulraj's nephew who is also a priest of the Diocese of Nellore), Dr Gudipati Subba Rao (a medical practitioner at the DNSSD projects), and Mrs Gongeda Sujatha (described in the charge sheet and elsewhere as the 'wife' of Gali Arulraj. Her name is sometimes written as Gangada Sujatha).
Although Catholic priests are not allowed to marry, Mrs Gongeda Sujatha is known as Arulraj's 'wife'. It is unclear whether they have formally married, but Arulraj is recognised as the father to her two young children.
There were several elements to Arulraj's deception during the years that Enable supported DNSSD. At first he was a priest in good standing with his bishop and diocese. When he abandoned his diocesan responsibilities in violation of his obedience to his bishop (from 1997) and lived as a married man with his 'wife' and children, he continued to present himself as a priest in good standing. His deception was made possible due to the complicity of his nephew, (Fr) Vatakili Paulinraj [whose name is sometimes given as Fr V. Paulin Raj], who served as Secretary/Treasurer of DNSSD. With Paulinraj at times concelebrating with him, Arulraj performed the sacred priestly action of celebrating Holy Mass, even though he was living a way of life that made a mockery of that sacred action. No one in Enable knew anything about Arulraj's double life until June 2006.
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| (Fr) Vatakili Paulinraj assisted Arulraj's deception |
Arulraj and Paulinraj embezzled funds by presenting Enable with sets of false accounts over several years. An informal set was provided for the calendar year during visits to India by Enable representatives each January. A formal set of accounts, signed off by a chartered accountant, Mr Parchuri Venkata Ranganadham, of Ongole, was prepared for each financial year, ending in March. Enable was also presented with 'bank statements' signed by a manager of the Indian Overseas Bank, Trunk Road, Ongole (with whom I met and received confirmation of the authenticity of the 'statements'). The subsequent police investigation revealed that both the bank manager and the chartered accountant had fraudulently approved entirely false accounts and bank statements. Arulraj's 'scam' had been to simultaneously raise funds from other donors, about whom Enable was not informed, and there was no record of those other donations on the accounts shown to us. In turn, the other donors were not informed about the donations DNSSD received from Enable.
The scam enabled Arulraj and Paulinraj to embezzle more than one million pounds. They kept for themselves donations that had been given to support disabled children. In other words, they stole from the poorest in Indian society to enrich themselves. The evidence of their embezzlement was discovered in their bank accounts and possession of palatial private properties.
Enable discovered a problem with the DNSSD accounts, from which the embezzlement was eventually discovered, in 2006. When Arulraj and Paulinraj failed to give an adequate reply to queries, as Enable's General Secretary I contacted the Bishop of Nellore, then the Most Rev. P.C. Balaswamy, seeking his intervention. With his encouragement and support I presented the evidence of criminal wrongdoing to the police in June 2006. Bishop Balaswamy gave strong support to Enable's attempts to justly resolve the problem with the two priests. When Arulraj and Paulinraj abandoned hundreds of children for whom they had assumed responsibility, Bishop Balaswamy asked for (and received) Enable's assistance so that the Diocese would be able to support a number of them.
In December 2006, Bishop Balaswamy's long-overdue retirement (several years after the expected Bishops' retirement age of 75) was accepted and a successor, Bishop Doraboina Moses Prakasam, was appointed. To say that Enable's Board of Trustees (including myself) are "disappointed" with the way Bishop Prakasam has addressed the scandal involving his two priests would be a charitable understatement.
Some details of what happened in 2006-2007 and subsequently will be described in other posts.
Having kept a low profile for a few years Arulraj re-emerged in February 2012, presenting himself as Director of the New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped. On his Linked-In Profile, Arulraj presents himself as a priest, describing himself as Fr Gali Arulraj, Director at New Life Society for the poor and handicapped, whereas on a website for that "Society", launched in March 2012, he describes himself as Mr. G.A. Raj, Director.
[UPDATE 30 March 2012: Following the exposure given by this blog the profile and website have already been removed]
The projects described on Arulraj's professionally designed website, for which he is seeking donations, are non-existent. I will describe the scam in subsequent posts.
This blog has been set up to expose Arulraj's continued scams. Having experienced Arulraj's deception over a period of many years, I feel a responsibility to warn others of what he is currently doing. As a Catholic myself, it is with much regret that I find myself having to expose a consummate scammer who is also a Catholic priest. The regret is accompanied by considerable dismay that Bishop Prakasam of Nellore has turned a deaf ear to repeated requests, since I first met him in January 2007, for Arulraj's canonical status to be addressed. The ongoing scandal of the "scammer priest" could so easily have been prevented.
In December 2006, Bishop Balaswamy's long-overdue retirement (several years after the expected Bishops' retirement age of 75) was accepted and a successor, Bishop Doraboina Moses Prakasam, was appointed. To say that Enable's Board of Trustees (including myself) are "disappointed" with the way Bishop Prakasam has addressed the scandal involving his two priests would be a charitable understatement.
Some details of what happened in 2006-2007 and subsequently will be described in other posts.
Having kept a low profile for a few years Arulraj re-emerged in February 2012, presenting himself as Director of the New Life Society for the Poor and Handicapped. On his Linked-In Profile, Arulraj presents himself as a priest, describing himself as Fr Gali Arulraj, Director at New Life Society for the poor and handicapped, whereas on a website for that "Society", launched in March 2012, he describes himself as Mr. G.A. Raj, Director.
[UPDATE 30 March 2012: Following the exposure given by this blog the profile and website have already been removed]
The projects described on Arulraj's professionally designed website, for which he is seeking donations, are non-existent. I will describe the scam in subsequent posts.
This blog has been set up to expose Arulraj's continued scams. Having experienced Arulraj's deception over a period of many years, I feel a responsibility to warn others of what he is currently doing. As a Catholic myself, it is with much regret that I find myself having to expose a consummate scammer who is also a Catholic priest. The regret is accompanied by considerable dismay that Bishop Prakasam of Nellore has turned a deaf ear to repeated requests, since I first met him in January 2007, for Arulraj's canonical status to be addressed. The ongoing scandal of the "scammer priest" could so easily have been prevented.
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