Registered with whom, as what?.
On 4/4/25 The Council of Reference(CoR) for Lanka Evangelical Fellowship(LEF) posted a 'Definitive Public Response' (hereafter 'DPR') to a series of serious allegations of criminal misconduct in Sri Lanka.
The 6 pastors who wrote on the 31st January, 2021, were all former coworkers with Jeyakanth Selvarajah.
Their complaints are strong and emotive.
They themselves appealed for detailed external investigation.
I am not local, and I agree with the authors of the DPR, that I am not qualified to make judgement on nuanced matters of law or justice within a foreign culture. But even a child can smell a rat.
The subsequent alignment of 4 of these pastors to a different, albeit evangelical, Christian tradition, ostensibly to register their churches, is somewhat disappointing.
However, I published their concerns with their consent and at their request.
I will leave it to more qualified investigators to weigh the response of the DPR to the letter in other points.
I have found the DPR lacking in judgement and in sagacity in the areas where they controvert the claims documented in this archive. However I accept that additional information needs posting to complete the picture of what has happened, for example in the case of the demolition of the access wall at the 6 Mile Post Compound.
I will here however make some salient observations about the DPR's claims on land registration.
It is a tangled and often controverted field of Sri Lankan law, as even preliminary enquiry reveals.
The question however is very simple.
How well safeguarded is donors' money for its original purpose?
It is not a new question, in fact it was the original reason for my involvement, at the initiative of Sri Lankan brethren in Sri Lanka, Tooting and elsewhere.
I have fleshed this out here.
So the current concern about land registration of LEFC properties has been real and live.
The 6 pastors, who worked closely with Jeyakanth for years, allege that if the LEFC folded, much of this property would revert to the ownership and possession of Jeyakanth's family and friends and not be available to the churches for whom the money was given.
This central concern has been raised with Care Sri Lanka and the CoR, both directly and indirectly, many times before this and since the letter was written.
It is reasonable to expect considerable progress in addressing this to have been made. I retain written copies of many of these appeals.
Other churches and church groups have not found it so difficult to register their properties, and other assets in their own names, or to place them in trust, so that the tenure of the churches is secure.
In the DPR, the solicitor's letter, details an apparently incomplete list of 31 properties in different locations (p.96-98).
We had provided a provisional document (as submitted), containing 34 properties, on 6th April 2021, from the 6 pastors' own enquiries.
There is clearly some overlap. I don't want to be unduly harsh in treating this highly complex area.
I personally have received considerable patience from the brethren at CSL, and a great deal of labour has gone in to the DPR, with many hours of checking documents and ascertaining facts.
However the basic statistics are bald, both from the solicitor's letter of attestation and the pastors' initial investigation, after calling for further probing.
* It is indeed (sn.8.12, p.94) 'a scandalous lie to suggest PJK is the beneficial owner of most of the LEFC assets', the pastors didn't make this claim, I haven't made this claim, nor has anyone else I know, it is another straw man.
* It is extremely unclear how many of these properties would remain in the use of the local churches, except for two, in the event of LEFC collapsing.
* Whilst there are discrepancies of documentation, the data looks fairly similar, despite 3 years of opportunity to register all the non permit land in LEFC's name.
* The main difference is the transparency with which properties registered in private names are directly linked to JK, by blood relation or by friendship.
* References to land having been 'given' are vague, for a solicitor, and may of course mean nothing, especially if the denomination folds or there are disputes.
An archive of files pertaining to LEFC.
The Cooke-Mullins Report.
LEF's Definitive Public Response - an introductory reply.
Section 5 - a series of child rapes at 6MP, by JK's employees, covered up by JK and LEF, till now.
Section 5 The DPR and Contempt of courts.
Appendix 2. Thambalagamam. The 'gamekeeper' is a poacher, a 'fraudulent' letter has been authenticated by the Sri Lankan Government Agent.
Section 8.6, p.87 - The unanswered questions about an early house purchase in Mitcham, which was first denied.
Section 8.12, p.94 The 6 pastors' letter of complaint about JK's immorality and extortion - specific questions about land registration.
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The Cooke-Mullins Report.
LEF's Definitive Public Response - an introductory reply.
Section 5 - a series of child rapes at 6MP, by JK's employees, covered up by JK and LEF, till now.
Section 5 The DPR and Contempt of courts.
Appendix 2. Thambalagamam. The 'gamekeeper' is a poacher, a 'fraudulent' letter has been authenticated by the Sri Lankan Government Agent.
Section 8.6, p.87 - The unanswered questions about an early house purchase in Mitcham, which was first denied.
Section 8.12, p.94 The 6 pastors' letter of complaint about JK's immorality and extortion - specific questions about land registration.
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