I first came across about Calvary Church in 1985 when I read the financial accounts of the church for 1984. The first item that catches my eye was in the balance sheet and it shows that the church have RM 500K in FIXED DEPOSIT at that time. It does not surprise me in 2004 when a customer of mine who is the church member told me that CALVARY CHURCH bought a piece of land which is beside the Bukit Jalil Golf Club from Berjaya for RM 25 Million.It also does not surprise me that the church will bulit a RM 100 Million convention center as I always believe that the church will be able to honour its obligations. I am a golfer and I always go to Bukit Jalil driving range which is directly beside the land under construction of the Calvary Convention Center.Surprisingly, in April this year construction work at the site stop for the second time as a result of no payment to the main contractor Nam Fatt. I did some checking and found out that the first stoppage is due to technical matters but the second and current stoppage is due to the inability of the church to pay the main contractor Nam Fatt. The church is having financial problems due to mismanagement of funds by the top management of the church.A police report was lodged this year on the mismanagement of funds and the members are demanding for accountability and transparency over the use of church funds from the church Board of Deacons. Unless the church is able to raise funds,it will not be able to complete the construction of the convention center as the cost have escalate by RM 50 Million to RM 150 Million because of increase in material and other construction costs even though this project is schedule to complete in October 2009. Currently, the project is only 55% completed. In this difficult economic environment with a weak stock market and many members quitting the church,it will be a huge task for CALVARY to raise the necessary funds to complete the convention center.It was also alleged by the group of members calling themselves the Truth,Transparency and Good Governance Group that substantial church funds was transferred to the personal accounts of a top church official. A deacon of 11 years Dr Lum was sacked in Nov 2008 for speaking out against the Board of Deacons on how the church funds are managed.
The problems of the Church is small compared to the financial problems of the govt of Malaysia which is on the verge of BANKRUPT as result of massive corruption.
2 comments:
Ya it is say to see such mismanagement of funds especially using public fund when construction the extravagant project. If the project stop for a long time then it will be an eyesore for the Bukit Jalil resident.
Just hope that they will resolve their internal problem and get on with the project.
What is the status of the new church building now?
Is it completed?
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