Lentil As Anything founder hits back at claims he misused funds

Lentil As Anything founder says he “poured his savings” into the charity and has denied claims he ever used it for personal financial gain.

Lentils as Anything founder Shanaka Fernando has denied allegations he is misused charity funds. Picture: David Caird

Lentil As Anything founder Shanaka Fernando has hit back at allegations he has used the charity for personal financial gain, saying they result from a messy battle for control of the not-for-profit.

Mr Fernando, whose pay-what-you-feel charity restaurants have dished up more than 20 million meals over the past two decades, says he has nothing to hide as he weathers allegations he misused charity funds and hired a ‘ghost employee’.

“I’ve worked for 21 years on Lentil as Anything, I’ve poured my life’s savings into it, I’ve often gone without wages, I’ve withdrawn my superannuation and tipped that into it during the COVID lockdowns and I’ve lent the organisation $35,000,” Mr Fernando said.

“I’ve got a wife and four kids at home, we live in a rented house and live very simply from pay cheque to pay cheque. All I have is my character and reputation and its distressing when that is called into question.”

Lentil as Anything founder Shanaka Fernando at the Abbotsford Convent restaurant. Picture: David Caird

The comments follow the publication of a confidential report by forensic accountants RSM into the charity which raises concerns that around $11,300 was used to pay Mr Fernando’s private expenses, including overseas trips.

Questions have also been raised around $21,663 in wages paid to an employee who allegedly did not work at Lentil as Anything.

Mr Fernando has emphatically denied any wrongdoing, saying all payments made to him were within the rules of an agreed salary package.

He said he has paperwork showing the airfares in question were paid with via a loan taken out in his name while the alleged ghost worker was a chef at a neighbouring Lentil as Anything restaurant hired during lockdowns to provide staff with training in South East Asian cooking.

Lentil as Anything has faced a tumultuous 14 months after it emerged it had underpaid workers and failed to pay superannuation correctly.

Mr Fernando said those issues occurred under an accounting firm which has been replaced and the charity has since improved its internal financial structures.

Lentil as Anything’s Mediterranean tofu scramble

The RSM report had been commissioned by disgruntled former board chair Paul Komesaroff whose vision for the charity had been rejected by Lentil as Anything staff and supporters, Mr Fernando said.

Mr Fernando said he was assessing his legal options in order to access the RSM report.

Dr Komesaroff, a Monash University professor who resigned from the Lentil As Anything chair position in November, said he had not sought to control the charity, nor had he been motivated by malice in commissioning the RSM report.

“Like other charities, Lentil as Anything is obliged to manage the public donations it receives in accordance with its legal responsibilities,” Dr Komesaroff said.

“If concerns have been raised it would be proper for the facts to be established by an independent investigation.”