Photo credit: Catholic News Agency
Two religious charities have had their status revoked by Canadian tax authorities after auditors raised concerns about how they were using their money abroad.
Investigative Journalism Foundation reports that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the registration of both the Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism and L’Assemblee Nouvelle A,Alliance on October 25. Letters explaining the reasons for those revocations have been released to the IJF. The letters lay out the results of audits that identified problems with the charities’ spending in the Middle East and Africa.
The Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism was found to be acting as a conduit for “non-qualified donees in Israel,” according to the letter.
The L’Assemblée Nouvelle Alliance was found to have purchased two plots of land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2016 and 2022 ostensibly to build churches, according to the letter. However, to date, no churches have been built.
The audit found that the alliance’s president withdrew funds from the charity’s bank account and deposited them into the account of a private individual, ostensibly to be transferred to the DRC to build wa,lls around one of the plots.
However, the charity could not provide evidence to prove that the money had reached Africa or that it had been used to buy construction materials.
Although charities that have had their status revoked can challenge the CRA findings in court, representatives of the charities have not responded to requests for comment.
