PETRA People

Highlights and News
October 2021
Item One
Anti-Corruption: Perspectives and Practices
21 August 2021, 9am--11am (New York Time)
Organized by the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Network
Lausanne Movement-World Evangelical Alliance

Updates: You can now access the five presentations (video and written)

as well as sign up for the upcoming Virtual Cafes to interact on

Corruption and Culture, Government, Business, and Church.

Click HERE

Sign up for the follow-up Virtual Cafes for interaction with the speakers and people round the world.

See also the new video episode of the Lausanne Global Classroom, Integrity and Anti-Corruption.
This seven minute overview, featuring comments from seven Christian leaders, examines issues
of integrity and anti-corruption among leaders in politics, business, government, and the church.

PETRA People Weblog
Staying Current--10+ Years
Updates, Analyses, and Resources
Resilient integrity is stronger than resilient corruption.

October-November 2021: Be Righteous and Relevant: Speaking Truth--God's Word--to Ourselves and Others
August-September 2021: The Day of the Lord: Exposing All Forms of Corruption
June-July 2021: Global Integrity Initiatives: Global Integrity Day and Global Integrity Network
April-May 2021: When the Best Is Corrupt: Choose Integrity--Beware of Hypocrisy
February-March 2021: Stop Pilfering and Pillaging--Be Faithful in All Things
December 2020-January 2021: Taking A Stand: Integrity in the Lausanne Movement and UN Anti-Corruption Day
October-November 2020: How Leaders Lie: Exploring the Lure of Unethical Behavior
August-September 2020: Crushing the Serpent: High-virtue humans, institutional integrity, and co-workers with God
June-July 2020: Confronting the Corruption Pandemic (new resources, individual-international applications)
April-May 2020: Lessons from COVID-19: 19 Stories-Reports of Compassion and Corruption
February-March 2020: Corruption in the Church-Mission Community (living fully in the light)
December 2019--January 2020: What Is Your Integrity Worth? Lessons for Fighting Corruption
October-November 2019: Join Together! Support the Growing Efforts (upcoming conferences etc.)
August-September 2019: Join with Us! Fear God. Honor God. (FAST pods-posts summary)
June-July 2019: Tools for Integrity 5 (fight the frauds, confront the cover-ups)
April-May 2019: Tools for Integrity 4 (live in the light--speaking truth to ourselves/others)
February-March 2019: Tools for Integrity 3 (the light we will not see)
December 2018-January 2019: Tools for Integrity 2 (integrity and integroty)
October-November 2018: Tools for Integrity 1: (learning from history)
August-September 2018: Repentance 5 (tough love--confronting compromise)
June-July 2018: Repentance 4 (summary and summons; you are dead--wake up!)
April-May 2018: Repentance 3 (summary/summons; #CMCtoo -- #HealUsToo)
February-March 2018: Repentance 2 (summary/summons, restitution or retribution)
December 2017-January 2018: Repentance 1 (summary/summons; healing people and organizations)
October-November 2017: Summary and Summons (healing the broken body--again)
August-September 2017: The Essential Review (healing the broken body)
June-July 2017: Quid Clamabo--What do I cry out?--What do I decry?
April-May 2017: Cui Bono--Who benefits? (what are you going to do?)
February-March 2017: Willful Blindness (opening our eyes, hearing our conscience)
December 2016-January 2017: International Anti-Corruption Day (uniting against corruption and NCI)
October-November 2016: Ordinary Heroes (awakening the good in you)
August-September 2016: Cooperating with Corruption (complicity)
June-July 2016: Speaking Up ("double lives" and "moral disengagement")
April-May 2016: Good Fraud-day (rationalizing our responsibility to confront and protect)
February-March 2016: Transparency-Accountability Illusions (tricks for feigning good practice)
December 2015-January 2016: Good Practice Across Sectors (the best or the worst)
October-November 2015: Christian Integrity (transforming ourselves and our world)
August-September 2015: Lessons for "Leaders" ("we were wrong, we are responsible, we will change")
October 2014-October 2015: Responses to the Shine the Light-Together petition
(exchanges with four organisations--what people are saying and not saying)
August-September 2014: going public with the truth (don't be intimidated--it's your world!)
June-July 2014: don't be afraid (case studies in confronting corruption)
April-May 2014: uniting against corruption (good principles and good practices)
February-March 2014: using our brains (bystander effect and groupthink)
December 2013-January 2014, wising up and rising up (accurate information and legal action)
October-November 2013: going wrong (deception)
August-September 2013: PETRA People review (staying the course--two years of weblog postings)
June-July 2013: until death do us part? (sacrificing and suffering to end evil)
April-May 2013: betraying well (silence, passivity and neutrality)
February-March 2013: defeating corruption (wake up!)
December 2012-January 2013: live wrong ≠ live strong (duping and doping)
October-November 2012: confronting Christian corruption
August-September 2012: global shame or a good name (YWAM)
June-July 2012: looking good and doing good
April-May 2012: shining the light together--an international call for integrity and action
February-March 2012: doing truth well--your task is to be true, not popular
December 2011-January 2012: confronting corruption--insipid salt and illusory light
October-November 2011: awakening virtue--missing money/missing action
August-September 2011: the whole picture and whole truth
June-July 2011: response to Christianity Today article on NCI, "Fleecing the Faithful--Again"
May 2011: requests for assistance--healing the body
April 2011: introduction and initial input

Notes on Integrity and Corruption

--Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness.

--Corruption is moral rottenness, the opposite of integrity--the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the abuse and exploitation of people and the planet. It is integroty.
--Global integrity is living consistently in moral wholeness at all levels--individual, interpersonal, institutional, and international; across sectors and settings; local through global; the systemic and structural.

Fraud and other forms of corruption are a fact of life. People get duped all the time. And even the financially
savvy can become the prey of experienced fraudsters. No one is immune to being exposed to fraud’s far-reaching toxins, including people and organizations in the faith-based community.

For example an estimated 55 billion US dollars are stolen around the world through “ecclesiastical crime” (International Bulletin of Mission Research, January 2021). The humanitarian assistance and other sectors fare no better. For example, consider the sobering conclusions from the July 2008 Report from Transparency International (TI) which reviews the widespread occurrence of corruption in humanitarian assistance. Corruption is extensive and as defined by TI, is primarily an ‘abuse of entrusted power for personal gain.’ It involves far more than just fraud.

For recent and ongoing materials on integrity and corruption see these websites:
Global Integrity Day 2021
Transparency International
Faith and Public Integrity (faith-based)
Global Integrity Network (faith-based)

Nodic Capital Investment, KB
Overview

This company and its investment schemes began in 1992. NCI's Swedish founder was convicted of gross fraud related to NCI by a Swedish district court (Uppsala Tingsrrat) in October 2010. People primarily within the international church-mission community collectively lost millions of dollars/euros. Personnel and others associated with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) have especially been affected.

The first appeal case went to trial in Stockholm in September 2011 (Svea Hovrätt). The verdict of 28 October 2011 upheld the Uppsala court's verdict (from October 2010) and sentenced the defendant to three and a half years in prison. This second verdict was appealed to the Swedish Supreme Court (Högsta Domstolen) on 23 November 2011 (this is the final appeal possible in Sweden). The Supreme Court has made a decision concerning the appeal, dated the 21 December 2011, that it will not process the appeal at all. Therefore the verdict of the Svea Hovrätt (from 28 October 2011) is valid and will now be executed. Mr. Westergard (a former YWAM leader) will be serving a 3.5 year prison term (although in Sweden a person usually only serves 2/3 of the required term and hence Mr Westergard's prison term finished in mid-2014).

Mr. Westergard's traceable assets are minimal and hence he is not able to repay several victims as required in the court verdict. Some of the NCI-related investments and money flows are in fact traceable, according to EBM/Swedish court documents, to organisations/foundations such as Mercy Ministries International, Le Rucher Ministries, New Generation Foundation, and YWAM projects/personnel. The church-mission community and victims continue to call upon those responsible in such entities (past and current) to fully disclose and to help return money.

**Some of the attractive features of NCI included the promise that invested capital was totally safe, 15% per annum return was guaranteed, an additional 15% from NCI revenue would go to humanitarian projects, and the people promoting this special opportunity were respected Christian leaders. NCI however is alleged by the Swedish Prosecution to be an affinity-based ponzi scheme, that new money was never generated via investments, and that the money paid to investors/projects came from investors' own capital.

**The most disconcerting aspect of NCI is not simply the lost money. Nor is it simply the negative emotional impact on the lives of so many "investors" and their family members and colleagues. Rather it is the consistent response of individuals/leaders within the church-mission community: unwillingness to investigate or get informed, fear of reprisals, self-protection, and discrediting those calling for transparency and accountability, all at the expense of vulnerable people. It is time to change this course and to act with moral courage and united strength.

Overview of NCI
1. Fleecing the Faithful--Again (Christianity Today, June 2011 and online comments)
Note July 2021: Christianity Today would not post an update from PETRA People to share what is currently happening following a civil case in France and the continued effort to confront NCI and call people to assistance and account.
2. Information and Observations about NCI (some investors, roles, money flows)
3. Some Examples of NCI Money Flows (organized by year)
4. Suggestions: Going Forward (10 core points)
5. PETRA Statement 2011 about NCI and related concerns: A Call for Transparency and Accountability

Requests for Assistance
1. See the organizations and groups mentioned in the entry for 24 May 2011 on the weblog.
(also included in the "NCI Comments" section of this site)
2. Letter to YWAM leaders internationally, asking for assistance (5 June 2011)
3. Letters sent to church leaders in the Geneva-Lausanne area in Switzerland (2010, 2011)
4. Exchanges with four organisations regarding the Shine the light-Together petition's request for assistance (Oct-Nov 2014, in process)

Notes: 2021
1. Rand Geubert's 120 page Professional Review (2008) was published online in August 2018.
Access it here: Loving Truth and Peace

2. Current updates, analyses, and resources are on the PETRA People Weblog. Part Two on each post is the essential review of NCI--what we need to know and do: Summary and Summons--Healing the Body.

3. See also the Into Integrity podcasts and the Into Integrity blogposts. "The purpose of Into Integrity is to call attention to and confront the lack of disclosures/independent reviews and wrongful dismissals related to the Nordic Capital Investment KB fraud. ..Corruption kills. It does not going away by ignoring it."

--United Nations Panel Confronts Vatican on Child Sex Abuse by Clergy. "The view of [the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child] is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet," Kirsten Sandberg, chairwoman of the 18-strong CRC, told the Vatican delegation. "It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent."….Barbara Blaine, president of a group representing US victims of abuse by priests, told BBC News that the hearing had brought "hope to victims across the globe". But it would also stand, she said, as a "record of how the Church officials refused to answer the questions, how they claim to be open and transparent, and yet they don't live up to that ideal". BBC News Report, 16 January 2014 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25748952). Updates from 6 February 2014, urging action by the Vatican to "immediately remove" all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and to "hand over the archives on sexual abuse cases." See the Euronews report (http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/05/un-report-urges-vatican-to-act-over-child-sex-abuse/) and the BBC report (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26044860).

--"The best way for leaders to start information flowing freely in their organizations is to set a good example. They must accept, even welcome, unsettling information. If leaders regularly demonstrate that they want to hear more than incessant happy talk, and praise those with the courage to articulate unpleasant truths, then the norm will begin to shift toward transparency. Transparency is one evidence of an organization's moral health." Transparency: How Leaders Create A Culture of Candor, Bennis et al (2008, page 42)

-- “NCI is an extremely serious matter for the entire charities world and not simply a faith-based issue. Hence it is important for both the general public and the Christian community internationally to be aware of it. Our organizations must be able to self-regulate with transparency and accountability. If we cannot do so—if we do not put in place the necessary safeguards to prevent corruption and act with the needed moral courage when we encounter it—then we seriously compromise our integrity, public trust gets eroded, and in some cases a government body will step in to confront the illegal mess. Everyone loses, especially the people who are the recipients of our ministries and services.” Michele Lewis O'Donnell, Consulting Psychologist and NCI Investor

--"The governing boards and leaders of any organization receiving questionable money have an ethical and legal responsibility to do three things: a) investigate the money they have received, using reputable external auditors and financial expertise; b) verifiably and publicly disclose their findings; and c) help recover money. It is not simply up to government investigations, civil cases, or victims. Past/current board members and leaders have key roles. The same is true for others who are net positive (financially benefited), including projects that received money and those who had special contracts/arrangements to receive money based on other people's contracts. Verifiable disclosure, which includes admitting mistakes, is the moral way forward. Protecting oneself at the expense of others is unethical."
Kelly O'Donnell, Consulting Psychologist and NCI Investor

--“As a leader in YWAM, I support the call for top YWAM leaders to approve an internal independent investigation over YWAM's various involvements and responses to the NCI ponzi fraud case…An independent investigation by professionals would also put into practice a key principle in YWAM leadership training of “openness and brokenness” before God and one another. This could be a key step forwards as we launch into the next 50 years with a desire for maturity and greater fruitfulness." Online comment from Christianity Today's article “Youth With A Passion” December 12, 2010

--“Recent scandals in the for-profit world have highlighted the importance of integrity within an organization…. One of the two provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 [USA] that applies to nonprofit organizations …is the legal protection of whistle-blowers. The Act makes it illegal for a corporate entity to punish whistle-blowers who risk their careers by reporting suspected illegal activities in an organization. No form of punishment, including firing, demotion, suspension, harassment, failure to consider the employee for promotion, or any other kind of discrimination, is allowed.” Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Policy on Suspected Misconduct, Dishonesty,Fraud, and Whistle-Blower Protection

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"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are.
So don't hesitate to go public now. Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies.
There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being.
Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life
—body and soul—in his hands."
(MT 10: 26-28, The Message)

PETRA People

Petra means "bedrock" in Greek (πέτρα).
It is both a metaphor and an acronym.
Petra refers to the strong relational and work foundation that results
when people are committed to peace, transparency, and accountability.

Header image: Slieve League, Donegal, Ireland--the highest sea cliffs in Europe
"A solid, rustic beauty to inspire our courage and strength."

This site is moderated by Kelly and Michele O'Donnell in collaboration with the PETRA People Network and in support of all those who have been affected by corruption and fraud and who endeavor to live in integrity. The moderators' experience with NCI is summarized in the NCI Analysis section. You can access many of Kelly and Michele's materials on integrity and corruption here: Global Integrity.

Many thanks for the ongoing input/materials from colleagues, consultants, and NCI victims. Your feedback, suggestions for additional material, and comments are very welcome. People have a right to know the truth and a responsibility to act on the truth. email: petrapeoplenet@gmail.com weblog: PETRA People Blog