20 Nov 2016
Are you talking about in India or elsewhere?
My first response would be to say, "anything goes ... until they are caught, or screw up" and then, at least in India, they just abscond and hide away in some remote BK centre.
In the West, such behaviour is and would also have been the norm, the center-in-charge doing so "in trust" - merely a verbal agreement - on behalf of the cult.
The BKWSU has always cut corners legally and relating to tax, and there lies the real problem. Lacking a proper legal sctructure, and seeking to avoid or circumnavigate tax and other laws, it has expanded "under the radar" of the authorities telling itself, "it's not a business or organization, it's just a 'family' which cares and shares for itself".
And there is the nub of the problem.
I would have thought, even in India, that if the land or property was being put or transfered into an individual's name than, legally, that individual owned it ... and that individual was also liable for the taxes for receiving it, or the money required to puchase it.
I don't know Indian law well but, largely, it is based on English Law and, strictly speaking, there are limits to the amount any one individual can give to another - especially unrelated ones - after which the gifts are taxed. The reason for those taxes are precisely to avoid individuals circumventing paying taxes by claiming that any payments for services etc were merely "gifts".
Of course, in a few cases, BK center-in-charges have been found to be lining their own pockets/comforts but mostly it is just being done in the name of the cult. But what would happen legally if, say, this woman was to die or leave? The property would stay with her or go to her biological family.
The BKs trust such surrendered Sisters to do so, and carry out such crimes, because they own their minds and futures, and have enslaved them. They control other BKs not to snitch to the authorities about them, claiming that their business is God's business and the government's business is devilish.
How many "surrendered Sisters" have walked off with a BK centre and kept it as theirs, I actually don't know of any. But I do know of such dodgy cases were privately owned properties had private mortgages paid by "donation" and were passed from BK follower to BK follower until they were paid off and that they face regular court cases and investigations over property issues.
Strictly speaking, all such property, assets and mortgages should be in the name of the organization, or a trust or company owned by the organization ... but I think as part of the BKs "softly-softly" approach, they know that is too much to demand straight away - they like to "cook their frogs in a pot by slowly turning the heat of the water up" - so they are happy to inhabit a grey or black area legally until they have fully captured an individual.
We even had the case of Sister Jayanti Kirpalani - Dadi Janki heir's - and her 'dowry property' being given back to her Father after it was given to the cult ... that is to say, not given at all but still held by Jayanti herself, so the ambiguity or corruption goes right to the top. Nothing she did could have been done with Janki's say so.
As with many other notorious gangsters, what brings them down are not the police but the tax laws.
"Follow the money" is the famous advice given to detectives. BKism has spread not 'above board' but like an underground criminal organization turning private homes into business places ... like a gang expanding territories to reap protection money from local residents. You'll find that the tax departments are often better places to go to report them (for tax evasions) than the police.
In India, this is a national problem and the BKs have already been squeezed by the Indian tax department, e.g. for a while or in some case "Baba's Box" for monetary donations had to be removed because it was not accounting for all its income.
If you are in India, there is another activist there who already has a number of leading BKs under criminal investigation, if you are interested in working with them, tell me and I will put you in touch.
Thank you.
BTW, what more do you know about what is going on?