Chapter Four: Grace Gospel Church - Its beliefs, practices and opponents
4.4 Distinctive CTMI/GGC doctrines and practices
4.4.10 Unorthodox and illegal activities
There are frequent reports of CTMI manipulating Mauritian emigration officials and rules to extend the usual tourist visas of 15 days into long stay permits, if not residence permits. Visas are extended by encouraging young people who are coming to CTMI headquarters in Mauritius to give false residence addresses and supplying them with church money to give the appearance that they have sufficient money for their stay. This money is then handed over to CTMI and recycled among other members to extend visas. Silk has observed CTMI fraudulently obtaining Mauritian residence permits, work permits and extended holiday permits “to facilitate the extended stay of the scores
304 Posted by “Keith B”, (04/07/12), http://ctmiconcernedparents.com/phpBB- 3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1566 (Accessed 13/08/12)
305 Posted by “CPG Testimonies”, (05/04/11), http://ctmiconcernedparents.com/phpBB- 3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=410&p=2015&hilit=dryness#p2015 (Accessed 17/07/12)
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of young people lured to the church in Mauritius. This also includes quickie marriages with residents in order to obtain permits for other members.”306
A prime example of such visa irregularity is Hayley Page (nee Goddard) who managed to stay and work in Mauritius for seven months despite being on a tourist visa and not having a work permit. In January 2010 fourteen young members, including Page, were told to leave Mauritius or face deportation within 24 hours.
The CPG website contains testimony of alleged sexual abuse by a CTMI elder Jean Claude Lajeunesse and a subsequent cover-up by Hardy.307 Similarly disturbing is the claim of a former pastor of CTMI, Patrick Monasie regarding the sterilisation of his wife, Christiane:
...Audrey strongly encouraged several couples amongst the leaders to get sterilized so that we would be more free to serve the church and receive people to live with us. To be accepted again by them I persuaded my wife to get sterilized, which she did along with others. Everything was organized by the church. This has been bad for our marriage and to this day she holds me responsible for forcing her to do it. (Christiane's testimony was in a local newspaper in 1997.)308
CTMI has gained negative press in the past for among other issues:309
The adoption of the Attisse siblings, whose parents died in 1991 in a car accident in La Vigie, and who mysteriously appeared in Zimbabwe with a CTMI family
The transportation to Zimbabwe of three children, Aasya, Abdurahman and Ali Alladee, in February 1997, when their mother died. This happened without the knowledge and consent of their father, Yusuf Alladee. The children were
306 Letter emailed from Silk to Erin Georgiou, editor of JOY! Magazine (03/10/2009) in Appendix “A”.
307 Posted by “CPG Testimonies”, (23/02/11), http://ctmiconcernedparents.com/phpBB- 3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=406&p=1980 (Accessed 13/07/12)
308 From document entitled “Disturbing Revelations – Testimony of Previous Pastor”,
http://ctmiconcernedparents.com/phpBB-3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=251 (Accessed 05/10/12)
309Posted by “joce1180”, (03/06/12), http://ctmiconcernedparents.com/phpBB- 3.0.5/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1566 (Accessed 12/05/12)
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fraudulently adopted by Peter and Felicity Ann Blatch, members of a CTMI partner church.
In January 2000 Carole Hardy, the daughter of Miki and Audrey, was appointed as communications advisor to Mauritian Minister Xavier Duval. The Swiss business partner of Xavier Duval, Eric Stauffer has made disturbing revelations of links between the Eglise Chretienne and Duval through Carole Hardy.
The implication of Laureate Trust in fraud estimated at several billion rupees over a period of five years. While this trust is officially dedicated to charity, during its first three years its only beneficiary (to the amount of Rs 25 million) has been an NGO, the Protection of Animals Welfare Society (PAWS), whose director was one of the trustees and counts Audrey Hardy among its members. It is suspected that these transactions have been a cover up for real estate purchases and re-sales.
In 2009 the Concerned Parents’ Group appealed to the Mauritian Prime Minister to officially investigate CTMI and its affiliates. This is an ongoing investigation.
GGC have also become embroiled in duplicitous property deals. For several years the group has been seeking land upon which to construct a church building. This desire had been heightened by the fact that the CPG had informed the landlords of each venue at which GGC was meeting, of the CPG’s concerns, and this had precipitated a string of evictions. Audrey Hardy had also raised expectations at a family camp in 2010 by challenging GGC to raise funds for land and buildings, and had declared that CTMI would offer rand for rand financial support for this endeavour from Mauritius.
In early 2011 GGC, though a closed corporation front company whose members were GGC elders, entered into a sale agreement for Outlaw Farm, a former equestrian property, near Waterfall, KwaZulu-Natal. The property was allegedly to be purchased to create a special school for fifteen pupils. There were few initial objections to the rezoning process for such a project but this changed when the seller discovered that GGC was behind the deal and informed the neighbours. The neighbours contacted the
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CPG for more information and then went to the press.310 The journalist investigating the story discovered that the deal was processed through the deeds office at less than half of the price paid to the seller. The seller then prepared an affidavit declaring that forged signatures were used to defraud the receiver of revenue of transfer duties. She also spoke of mysterious secrecy clauses written into the sale agreement.
Neighbours to Outlaw Farm launched an appeal against the rezoning of the property which is ongoing and essentially prohibits development of the property until there is a response from the relevant provincial authority.
The evidence of fraud together with the seller’s affidavit has been submitted to the South African Revenue Service as well as the Legal Society and the matter is currently under investigation.