A Uitenhage dominee who is being probed for allegedly dipping into the coffers of a Dutch Reformed church (DRC) company failed to meet a deadline to hand over financial statements to the disciplinary committee investigating him.
DRC Moedergemeente dominee Aubrey Gouws, 62, has also refused to meet the disciplinary committee on Tuesday – saying he will only be free some time in October.
This is according to Uitenhage lawyer Chris Lessing, who is the scribe of the disciplinary committee trying to probe the allegations against Gouws.
Lessing has described Gouws’s failure to co-operate as unacceptable.
The allegations against Gouws were made by Clarence Ratangee, 76, a former finance manager and elder of the church.
Ratangee, who said he had started as the finance manager in 2005 and resigned in 2017, claims Gouws misappropriated at least R4m while he was in charge of the church’s finances.
Gouws, who failed to provide a picture of himself and also appears to have no social media presence, said on Friday that a holiday had been planned months ago and that he was still busy with his own investigation.
He has previously described the accusations as unsubstantiated and made by a disgruntled ex-employee forced into retirement by sickness.
Some of the allegations include using the church’s money for holidays, boosting his pension fund, purchasing computers and cellphones, and receiving irregular payments for repair work, cleaning and painting of a block of flats owned by the church’s company.
Lessing said instead of the documents, they received a letter from Gouws in which he blamed Ratangee for the misappropriation of the money.
“He [Gouws] also said he would not be giving the documents over,” Lessing said.
“He admitted in a letter there are no proper minutes and his payslip was not always correct but he blames this on Ratangee.”
Lessing said they had sent a letter back instructing Gouws to meet the disciplinary committee on Tuesday, along with Ratangee and his church’s committee.
“He informed us he is on leave for a month and will then go for [medical treatment].
“He then stated he can only meet some time in October.”
Lessing said this was unacceptable. “He simply can’t keep refusing to hand over the documentation.”
Lessing said Gouws would now be reported to a higher body in the church.
“He told us his auditors are busy but that is pure nonsense.
“He simply can’t refuse us access to the minutes and financial statements.
“He is simply not co-operating. Somebody from the church must come meet us on Tuesday and they must bring the documents requested,” Lessing said.
Ratangee said he would attend Tuesday’s meeting and was preparing a full report to present to the committee.
Gouws said he had told the disciplinary committee he had a holiday in KwaZulu-Natal planned seven months ago.
“So it is difficult to understand that they arranged a meeting knowing I am away.”
Gouws said he would only be back on March 27.
“I only heard about this meeting at 4pm on Friday and did not refuse but will not be able to attend because I will be in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Our auditors are busy with a forensic audit and only when they are finished will we be able to make the documents available because they are with them.”
He said the disciplinary committee had originally asked on September 20 2018 for a meeting.
“As a church council we sent a letter on September 27 2018 that we are available. We only heard from them after five months. Someone is lying and it is not us.”