E-MAIL FROM JPAA PRESIDENT CHRISTY JOSEPH DATED 09/26/2017 AT 20:35 HOURS
To: All Past & Present Members, JPAA Canada
Dear All,
I took over as JPAA President in April 2016, and currently serving a 2-year term till 2018. As explained in my general communiqué of 8/22/2017 (shown below) all accounts of JPAA were frozen by the bank from November 2016 until July 2017. The account balances as at the time of freezing in November 2016, were as follows:
A. JPAA Operating Account $4,775.91
B. JPAA Trust Fund $11,499.73
The bank released the hold on the two accounts on July 12, 2017, and issued us two cheques made in favour of JPAA Canada in the following amounts.
I. JPAA Operating Account $4,741.46
II. JPAA Trust Fund $11,531.41
As explained in August, the Operating Account funds in bank stands at $ 4,741.26 while the GIC Trust Account funds were disbursed to the two schools equally. Two bank drafts in the sum of CAN $5,713.20 each were made to Rector, SJC and Rector, SPC. The two bank drafts were sent by Purolator Courier to the two rectors and acknowledgement obtained. It was only last week that the bank in Toronto confirmed that the drafts had gone through processing and have been realised. These transactions will be recorded in the Financial Statements of JPAA Canada for the 2017 fiscal year (January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017).
Detail discussions were had with both schools and it was revealed that the two rectors had future projects listed in priority order. For St. Joseph’s College, Fr. Travis Gabriel identified his #1 priority to be the College Chapel Renovation Project. For St. Peter’s College, Fr. Trevor Martin identified his #1 project to be the construction of Rugby Pavilion. The budget for both projects far exceeds the amount we sent but it all adds up.
- St. Joseph’s College – CAN $5,713.20 will be utilized towards the renovation of the Josephian Chapel that is over 100 years old. This project was on Fr. Travis Gabriel’s #1 priority list;
- St. Peter’s College – CAN $5,713.20 will be utilized for the construction of a new Rugby Pavilion with an expected September 2018 completion date.
Download pdf JPAA DONATIONS 2017
To: All past members (2016) & current members (2017)
Please take note of a few other important messages listed below:
- All future correspondence related to JPAA Canada 2017 operational activity will now be handled directly me, as JPAA President. No one else is authorised to send any communications to JPAA Members (past and present) with immediate effect;
- Mr. Anu Kandasamy (Asst. Treasurer) and Mr. Radley Perera (Hony. Treasurer) have both resigned their posts on the ex-co effective September 15, 2017;
- I have asked Mr. Radley Perera to complete the Financial Statements for 2016 and hand it over with all supporting documents to Hony. Auditor Chris Serpanchy or Roger Payoe, ex-co member. But he has failed to do so. I will be following up with Mr. Perera next week and if he fails to cooperate we will take further appropriate action to secure these documents;
- Mr. Lloyd Wijesinghe has ceased to function as Interim General Secretary, JPAA Canada as of September 12, 2017. I have advised him to cease and desist sending any form of general communications (verbal, written e-mails or letters) to any of our 2016 or 2017 members;
- We request all our 2016 members to send in their $15 subscription to continue membership in JPAA Canada in 2017;
- We hope to hold the Annual General Meeting for 2017, no sooner the financial statements for 2016 are audited. I will be contacting the Hony. Auditor in the next few weeks to finalise arrangements.
Assuring you of my best attention at all times.
Christy Joseph – JPAA Canada President – 2016/2018
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From: Puvi Ravi
Sent: August 22, 2017 11:53 PM
To: Christy Joseph; Distribution List
Subject: Re: Subject" General Communiqué to all paid-up members, JPAA Canada for 2016 – Batch 1
Hi Christy,
This is awesome news. Thank you for sharing. Can you please tell us what was the split in $ amount. That way we all know how much each school got. Thx.
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From: Christy Joseph <christy17joseph@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 9:25:56 PM
To: Distribution List
Subject: Subject" General Communiqué to all paid-up members, JPAA Canada for 2016 – Batch 1To: Members, JPAA Canada
Dear Members,
As you are well aware, the bank account and trust account of JPAA Canada has been frozen since November 2016, due to a dispute arising of authorized signatories to said accounts. This problem was ongoing and we tried to resolve this with the bank at branch level, district level and legal department ending up finally with Customer Care. Many attempts were made to resolve this issue and a few past presidents were also consulted but nothing came right. After renewed discussions with the branch manager, district manager and legal counsel the issue was placed in the hands of the bank’s Customer Services Manager. The consensus between all was that no resolution was possible without bringing the disputing party to the table. Had we failed to comply with the bank’s request, the funds would have gone into a dormant account where we would not have been able to access any funds from the accounts at all. Our inaction would also have caused the bank to charge us legal fees that may have amounted to well over the funds we had sitting in our operating account and trust fund account (GIC).
At this point, I requested Mr. Aubrey Atton (Committee Member) to mediate on behalf of the president (JPAA) and the disputing party to settle this issue in an amicable manner. Mr. Atton was successful in bringing the disputing party and myself to the table and together we informed the bank that we had reached a joint decision to sign release documentation agreeing to split the trust account (GIC) in half and send it to our alma mater in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The bank agreed to release the funds once we sign the agreement by way of two bank drafts for the GIC balance and also a second draft in lieu of the operating account. Let me confirm that no funds were held back and/or that no bank charges were levied as legal or administrative fees. This was a major win for JPAA Canada.
The bank wanted us to consult legal opinion after which the bank was prepared to deal only with our lawyer on this matter. However, timely action on the part of Mr. Aubrey Atton and myself with the disputing party resulted in us jointly agreeing to work together for and on behalf of JPAA Canada. Had we gone the route of consulting legal opinion on this matter, we would have faced heavy charges that may have even exceeded the funds we had in the 1) Operating Account and 2) Trust fund account (GIC). Our main objective was to safeguard the funds and also restore our account status with the bank.
The GIC split was sent to the two schools for the following work.
- 50% to St. Joseph’s College – JPAA funds were sent for the renovation of the college chapel that is Fr. Travis Gabriel, Rector’s top priority project. The chapel is 100 years old and breaking down.
- 50% to St. Peter’s College – JPAA funds were sent towards the construction of a new Rugby Pavilion which is Fr. Trevor Martin, Rector’s top priority project. Estimated completion date is September 2018.
The above communiqué is for your information. I will not be available to field any calls on telephone or respond to any e-mails sent in this regard.
Any concerns you have may be addressed at the Annual General Meeting 2017, that will be held once the Financial Statements for the Operating Account are audited by the Hony. Auditor and returned.
Sincerely,
Christy Joseph – President, JPAA Canada