Kanjirapalli Bishop on the dock over deals with Faris Mohammed

The Roman Catholic laity has questioned Mathew Arackal, the Kanjirapalli Bishop, for his dealings with Faris Aboobacker Mohammed, who is alleged of siphoning off Rs 35 crore from National Kidney Foundation in Singapore. Faris Mohammed is one of the directors of the Catholic daily Deepika. “Since it was Mathew Arackal who appointed Faris Mohammed as director of the daily, he owes an explanation to the people about his friendship with Faris,” said Mr Joseph Pulikunnel, a Christian scholar and editor of the venerated monthly “Hosanna”.

In a statement released here on Friday, Mr Pulikunnel questioned the action of the Kanjirapalli Bishop in appointing Faris Mohammed as director of the Deepika board. “ The Bishop is on record that Mr Faris has donated Rs 15 crore to Deepika and that too without any conditions or returns. Mathew Arackal is morally bound to make it clear the source of funding by Mr Haris,” Mr Pulikunnel said in the statement. The scholar has also questioned the Bishop for giving a clean chit to Faris while speaking in the Priest Council.

Mr Pulikunnel has asked the Bishop to make it clear that what prompted him to accept the financial package from Mr Faris, a total stranger to the Catholic community. “Now that he is an accused in the swindling of money from the Kidney Foundation of Singapore, it is the Bishop who stands in the dock for his friendship with the former,” Mr Pulikunnel said in the statement.

He also demanded a white paper on the state of affairs of Deepika, which saw a change in management with the ouster of Mr Pattara as Managing Director.