A Sri Lankan church planter, supported by UK churches for many years, is at the centre of two opposing reports into allegations of financial irregularities, sexual immorality, lying and bullying behaviour.
Jeyakanth Selvarajah, founder of Lanka Evangelical Fellowship of Churches (LEFC) and pastor of Grace Church Thampalakamam, said the allegations are “entirely false”. They include safeguarding failures; misuse of charitable funds; and complicity in the abduction of a pastor’s baby.
The first report was written in 2024 by chartered accountant David Cooke and barrister Mark Mullins, both pastors, after visiting Sri Lanka to investigate the allegations which span many years. This, it states, was prompted by a January 2021 letter purportedly from six former LEFC workers making serious allegations. The investigators claim to have uncovered evidence of alleged immorality, corruption and intimidation.
The Cooke-Mullins Report concludes he “has long ceased to fulfil the Biblical requirement of a pastor” and warned that no church should financially support his ministry in light of their findings. Their conclusions are available online.
The second report, a “definitive response”, released in April, comes from LEFC’s five-strong Council of Reference which is broadly supportive of Jeyakanth following “months of painstaking research”.
LEFC’s charitable arm, Care Sri Lanka (CSL), is a UK-registered charity set up in 2010. Council members have conceded that Jeyakanth has previously had too much power; its response acknowledges: “There has been a tendency among some of his most loyal supporters to ‘idolise’ him.” However, the Council’s response describes the allegations as “vexatious” and points out that Jeyakanth has never been prosecuted. It alleges that another Sri Lankan pastor, Muraleetharan Kanagalingam (‘Muralee’), who had once lived with Jeyakanth, was the investigator’s “key witness”. The Council claims he instigated the investigation in the first place.
Furthermore it claims the Cooke-Mullins report lacks independence – describing its conclusions as “erroneous, unkind and based on the one-sided and wholly flawed verdict of investigators who have been far from impartial and objective”.
The Council accuses Cooke and Mullins of concluding that Jeyakanth is an “accomplished liar” despite not interviewing him, his fellow elders and church officers or the Council of Reference itself. While the investigators asked to speak with Jeyakanth, the Council says he refused because of concerns around their independence.
Both sides also accuse each other of defamation.
Safeguarding
One of many allegations relates to safeguarding failures. Two caretakers at the children’s home run by Jeyakanth were convicted of the rape of a teenage girl; and the Sri Lanka Appeal Court upheld their convictions in 2022. The Cooke-Mullins report called this a “grievous failure of safeguarding”, declaring that (as stated by the Appeal Court) the rape took place while the victim was “in the care of the children’s home”.
However, the LEFC Council says that in her own police statement, the victim said the rape happened in her own home; and the court therefore misinterpreted the phrase “the girls home”. Implicating Jeyakanth, the Council says, was therefore unjustified.
Abduction
In December 2006, the eight-month-old son of another pastor was abducted while he was away. A woman who was recently dismissed from the church-run orphanage initially denied involvement. She was later arrested and implicated Jeyakanth, saying he had provided the transport and had threatened her. The Cooke-Mullins report suggested he then fled to the UK fearing arrest.
Responding, the Council says Jeyakanth had in fact lodged an application to the Home Office prior to the abduction, and did not arrive in the UK until February 2007. They accused the investigators of “tabloid journalism”, with no compelling evidence Jeyakanth had been involved. Kidnappings by Tamil Tigers and other groups are well-documented. The Council says many people over the years have related that Jeyakanth himself was kidnapped by the Tamil Tigers who threatened to kill him.
Finances
CSL’s latest accounts to 2024 show that it received nearly £49,000 in financial donations (less than half the amount received the previous year) and almost £90,500 was sent to Sri Lanka via ‘Children for Jesus’. Children for Jesus was, until it closed in around 2007, a Christian ministry in Sri Lanka (but not formalised as a charity).
According to the Cooke-Mullins report, it was closed because of concerns around alleged financial irregularities and that Jeyakanth allegedly continued to use the account after the ministry itself was shut down.
The Council’s response confirms that the account was retained, and now receives most of the charitable funds from the UK before distribution in Sir Lanka. It says ‘Children for Jesus Church’ is now the operating name for the various churches within LEFC – and that the account has four signatories (including Jeyakanth).
This is not the first investigation into Jeyakanth. However, the Cooke-Mullins report described three previous investigations, only one of which the investigators have seen, as “one-man investigations” and “fundamentally flawed”.
Two serious incident reports to the Charity Commission have been resolved. The first, according to CSL’s chair of trustees Richard Clarke, concerned allegations around a £33,000 donation from a UK pastor for the purchase of land in Sri Lanka. An investigation led to no further action.
He added that following a separate investigation into the charity’s safeguarding arrangements, an action plan was agreed and implemented. The Charity Commission says there are no active complaints or concerns about CSL.
Jeyakanth has been financially supported by UK churches for many years, some of whom withdrew support in the wake of the allegations. In 2023, the Metropolitan Tabernacle decided to re-route donations directly to independent churches in Sri Lanka, partly because of the unresolved accusations.
Jeyakanth was, from 2015, a member of Amyand Park Chapel (APC) (as well as the Thampalakamam church) which heavily supported the work in Sri Lanka for many years. However, in July 2021 he was expelled from membership for alleged lying, dishonesty and slander. The Council has heavily criticised its disciplinary process.
In response, APC issued a statement in March clarifying that the excommunication process took 18 months and was intended to “rescue Jeyakanth from the calamitous course he continues to take”. It also accuses the Council of undermining its church discipline and calling on it to repent.
For help in relation to abuse and trauma contact the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 and safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk
This article was amended 6.6.25 as an earlier version accidentally ended with the words "called on it to repent" rather than "calling on it to repent". We are sorry about this error.
