The Global Development Group is moving at a glacial
pace to respond to the allegations I have made against Citipointe church’s ‘SHE
Rescue Home’. It is now more than a week since GDG received a hard copy my letter of 8th
Feb, electronic copies of the 8th
Feb letter and my 10th Feb letter to The Hon Julie Bishop MP,
Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. And five days since I sent my letter of 12th. Feb. which included both my Cambodian phone numbers. There has been no call from GDG!
Directors
of the Global Development Group Board
Unit
6, 734 Underwood Road
Rochedale, QLD 4123
13th Feb 2014
Dear
David James Pearson
Geoffrey Winston Armstrong
Ofelia (fe) Luscombe
Alan Benson
David Robertson
Since my letter of
yesterday, Samantha Major has informed me that Peta Thomas is currently on assignment in Indonesia and that: “The
Executive Director will be back in the office on 24th February and
will respond to your emails.”
Given the seriousness of
the allegations I have made, I am more than a little surprised that the GDG
believes this is a matter that can be left unattended to for the next 11 days –
especially since we live in a digitally connected world in which a simple
question can be asked from any part of the globe and transmitted within seconds
to any other part of the globe. The question that needs to be asked by GDG is
this:
"Mr James Ricketson, an Australian filmmaker, alleges that
Citipointe church's "SHE Rescue Home' had no legal right to remove Rosa
and Chita from their family home in 2008 and detain them for the last five
years contrary to the express wishes of their parents – Chanti and Chhork.
Could you please supply the Global Development Group with whatever documents
(agreements and/or contracts) that the 'SHE Rescue Home' has entered into with
any Cambodian government department in the relation to the custody of Rosa and
Chita. Could you please also supply copies of these documents to the parents -
Chanti and Chhork?"
This paragraph took one
minute to write. A variation of it could be written by someone within the Global
Development Group with the authority to ask such questions in less than five minutes.
Peta Thomas could write such an email from Indonesia today if she has been, to
date, unaware of the five year battle Chanti and Chhork have been engaged in
with the church. Indeed, if the church has lied to Peta or kept secret from her
the five year long battle Citipointe has been engaged in to deny Chanti and
Chhork the right to bring up their daughters, she will almost certainly be very
angry and keen for the truth to see the light of day as quickly as possible. Given
the seriousness of the allegations and
her own potential complicity in the illegal detention of the girls, I am sure
she could find five minutes to do so to write an email. If Peta has no five minutes to spare, or if it
is inappropriate for her to be involved in thus matter further, surely there
must be someone within the GDG that does have five minutes to spare and the
authority to ask such a question?
The same applies, in terms
of speed, at the Citipointe end of the communication process. If the church has
the relevant documents these could be scanned, attached to an email and sent to
the GDG in a matter of minutes. The whole operation need not take more than an
hour or one day maximum. There is no reason why the GDG could not be in
possession of copies of such documents by the end of business on Friday
afternoon.
If the allegations contained
in my emails and letter are unfounded, Citipointe can prove them to be so by
the end of the week (tomorrow), just as my allegations could have proved to be
unfounded at any point in the last five years.
GDG has declared its
commitment to transparency and accountability and its adherence to the ACFID
code of conduct. If Citipointe is not adhering to the ACFID code of conduct
this reflects badly on the GDG and I would have though that the GDG would want
this matter cleared up as quickly as possible. Not in 11 days!
This matter could either be
put to rest in the next 24 hours by the revelation that Citipointe had a legal
right to remove Rosa and Chita and detain them. Or, if Citipointe cannot or
refuses to produce such documents, the GDG can (and I imagine will) initiate an
investigation into how it is that Citipointe’s illegal actions escaped the
scrutiny of the GDG monitoring and assessment process.
That Citipointe’s ‘SHE
Rescue Home’ receives funding from the GDG only came to my attention a few days
ago. This is a game changer because, whilst Citipointe can refuse to supply
Chanti and Chhork, SISHA, LICADHO or myself with copies of the relevant
documents and get away with it, it is hard to see how the church could refuse
to supply a funding partner (the GDG) with copies – if, that is, the GDG asks
for them.
The scenario presented to me
by Samantha Major is one in which, it seems, Peta Thomas will not be able to attend
to this matter until she returns from Indonesia. Is she expected back in days,
weeks or months? Given that Peta was in charge of assessing and monitoring the
‘SHE Rescue Home’ is it appropriate that she have any involvement at all in any
investigation of my allegations?
The problem with waiting for
the return of the Executive Director is this: To date there has been nothing at
stake for Citipointe. The church has been able to break Cambodian law with
impunity, knowing full well that there is no Cambodian body that will hold the
church accountable. For some years now Citipointe has been in receipt of funds
from the GDG but these would, I presume, cease to flow into the church’s
coffers if it turns out that the allegations I have made are true. This would
put quite a dent in the church’s revenue stream and Citipointe could, if it so
desired in the 11 days before the Executive Director looks at the matter, arrange
for the production of an appropriately dated document that turns out to be the ‘contract’
that Chanti, Chhork and I have been asking to be provided a copy of for five
years.
The July 31st
2008 ‘contract’ is a fraud, as GDG’s lawyers will discover the moment they look
at it. Citipointe has form when it comes to phony ‘contracts’ and, with its
cash flow from GDG under threat, and this being Cambodia, the church may see
some value in doing what it takes to bring the missing ‘contract;’ into being.
Remember, this is the NGO that threatened to have me arrested, jailed and
banned from coming to Cambodia ever again if I did not cease advocating in my
blog on Chanti and Chhork’s behalf!
Ask Citipointe to produce
the contracts and/or agreements by the end of the week and the manufacturing of
documents as fraudulent as the 31st July 2008 ‘contract’ will be not
be easy within a 24 hour time span – not even in Cambodia!
best wishes
James Ricketson
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