UK-backed Sri Lankan pastor: Two reports conflict

Nicola Laver  |  UK & Ireland
Date posted:  22 May 2025
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UK-backed Sri Lankan pastor: Two reports conflict

Jeyakanth Selvarajah

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.

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