Twenty-Nine Boxes, TT$1 Million Each: A Pastor Says His $28 Million Was 19 Years of Tithes

• TT$28 million in old notes was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act
• The pastor arrived minutes before the deadline with 29 copy-paper boxes
• He said the money was 19 years of congregation contributions
• More cash was reportedly seized at his home in Central Trinidad

A Trinidadian pastor who turned up at the Central Bank with 29 boxes of cash on New Year’s Eve has had the money seized. The Jamaica Observer reported that TT$28 million in old paper notes belonging to pastor Vinworth Anthony Dayal was impounded under the Proceeds of Crime Act as Trinidad and Tobago replaced its paper currency with polymer notes.

Mr Dayal “walked with 29 copy-paper boxes, each containing TT$1 million”, the Observer reported, and “showed up at the bank minutes before the deadline on New Year’s Eve to exchange the bills”. He had first tried to exchange the money on December 23, when “Central Bank representatives instructed him to visit the bank in person and fill out a source of funds declaration form prior to redemption”.

According to the Financial Intelligence Branch, “Dayal had promised to come in with the cash days before and repeatedly visited the Central Bank promising to do so. He failed to present the funds on each occasion until the last day”. It was described as the largest seizure since the currency change began. “A large sum of cash was also reportedly seized at the pastor’s house in Central Trinidad on Thursday (Jan 2),” the Observer added.

The pastor’s explanation was that “the funds were accumulated over 19 years of voluntary contributions from his congregation”. He had not been arrested but would have to go before the court to explain the source of the money.

Whatever a court decides, the case raises a question that applies to Jamaican churches too: where does the congregation’s money go, and who can account for it? Tithes kept as cash in a pastor’s house are not building a church, buying land or helping members with rent. Churches that bank their income, keep records and report to members protect both their pastors and the people who give, and they are far better placed to borrow, buy property or build when the time comes.

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