In a mailing to donors asking for money for new church construction in India, Gospel for Asia has changed their promise about how funds are used.
On their website, GFA still promises that 100% of donations go to the “field” with nothing taken out for administrative costs.
However, in this new mailing, GFA tells donors:
I wonder how long the 100% promise will remain on the website. As of right now, the messages are contradictory. Website donors are still being misled. This new appeal appears to be how GFA has done business in the past. According to the ECFA, GFA has used donor money for purposes other than intended. This new mailing asks for money for churches (see the letter and enclosures), but the disclaimer tells the donor that the money may not go to build a church.
Given the documentation that GFA is using money in India to purchase land, schools, and medical centers for income production, donors should be aware that the money you hope goes to build a church may build a business instead.
Category: K.P. Yohannan
Former Bush Administration Lawyer Harriet Miers is Member of Gospel for Asia's Legal Defense Team
When it comes to legal defense against the recently filed RICO lawsuit, Gospel for Asia is going big.
Locke Lord of Dallas is a large firm which boasts former Bush Administration Chief Counsel to the President Harriet Miers. Miers is among the attorneys who will represent the GFA defendants. In 2005, Miers was nominated by Bush to fill Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat. However, the administration later withdrew her name amid controversy.
If GFA is paying full freight, I suspect the “Where Most Needed” fund is going to take a big hit.
Gospel for Asia Defendants Request Extension to Prepare Response to RICO Suit
Gospel for Asia defendants K.P. Yohannan, Gisela Yohannan, Daniel Punnose, David Carroll, and Pat Emerick have requested until May 9, 2016 to respond to the RICO lawsuit filed on behalf of former GFA donors Matthew and Jennifer Dickson.
In February, the Dicksons filed a racketeering suit against the leadership of Gospel for Asia alleging misuse of funds and fraud (click link for the suit and more information).
The entire document is here.
UPDATE: Although the defense requested 60 days to prepare a response, the judge shortened the period to end April 15. In exchange for the extension, the defense agreed to accept service on the suit on behalf of K.P. Yohannan who apparently is still out of the country. GFA’s defendants are being represented by Locke Lord, a prominent law firm in Dallas.
The Order on Motion for Extension of Time to Answer is below:
Gospel for Asia Brags About Supplying a Drop of Water in New Delhi's Beleaguered Bucket
Gospel for Asia has been on a roll with press releases claiming to help India’s poor. The most recent one touts their efforts to ease a water crisis in the state of Delhi. The crisis has been exacerbated by political protests.
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers delivered nearly 4,000 gallons of water this week on World Water Day (March 22) to stricken residents of three areas in Delhi, hard-hit by a disruption in the city’s main supply source caused by a political protest.
Water was distributed to more than 1,000 people in three Delhi neighborhoods, with each household receiving two to 13 gallons. Residents there have suffered from severe water shortages, requiring residents to buy water daily until recently.
Perhaps 4,000 gallons sounds like a lot, but it is just a drop in a very large bucket.
According to a CNN report, it would take millions of gallons to make an impact.
As of Tuesday evening, the government had restored 80 million of the 580 million gallons that flow from the damaged canal daily. It is not clear when Delhi’s water supply will return to normal.
It costs about a dollar a gallon for commercially available bottled water in Delhi, so GFA’s big investment in the water crisis could have cost them a little over $4000.00 at most.
However, it was probably much less than that. According to the press release, GFA used tankers to bring in the water.
“We sent in tanker trucks to help those with life-threatening needs,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder and international director of GFA.
In 2012, one could rent a tanker which carries about the same amount of water GFA gave away for around $30. The same amount in the Fall of 2015 might go for as high as $50. The most recent source I found (last month) said tanker trucks providing the amount described by the press release could be secured for just over $60 (4000 rupees for 12000 liters).
Given the source of the press release, it probably took more money to pay for the publication of the release than it took to provide the water.
Even if the cost was around $4000, that is about 4 times what little Sayaan Ali needed to get life saving medical care and a whole lot less than the $74 million sitting in Indian banks from foreign contributors.
Gospel for Asia on the Front Page of the Hindustan Times
You can find the online article here. Thanks to an Indian reader, below I have an image of the front page.
You can see the entire front page here and page 6 here with the rest of the story.