For nearly twenty years we were a staple in the Australian community, having stores in Abbotsford, Thornbury, St Kilda and Newtown in NSW.
We set up Lentils in the hopes of establishing something revolutionary. We built a restaurant model based on the notion of “pay-what-you-want”, where everyone has a place as the table, where the dignity of all people is respected regardless of means or merit. Across the years, Lentils was propped up by a volunteer base. We deviated from a traditional model in that we were community-orientated, community-reliant and community-based. And for twenty years, we served good food to people all over the community, without a second glance to how much they could afford. We had some of the finest chefs, volunteers and people working with us. The Dalai Lama visited in 2017. It was the generosity of the community that showed itself over those years, keeping us afloat through donations, volunteer hours and the human connection which made it all worthwhile.
Yet a model based on humanity, trust and openness inevitably became the focus of political exploitation by those individuals which decided that status, ego and material success came above the mission and ethos which Lentils has stood by throughout its many years. When Shanaka Fernando, the founder of the company and Australian of the Year of 2007 left the country in Janurary 2017 to assist in a forest conservation project and to spend time with his ailing father,
Mr Komesaroff's role in the company during the period of my absence as well as his actions following were conducted following his alleged appointment as a Director of the company on 1 November 2017. He further brought his own daughter Frida Ms Frida Komesaroff, Mr Paul James and Mr Rob Wood. This formed the core of a coalition which following Shanaka's resignation as Director eventuated in causing the eventual winding up of the company.
However, by s 13.5 of the Constitution of Lentils, Mr Komesaroff would have needed to be a Member of the company at this time, which he never was. Below is attached a Memorandum of Advice from QC Julian Burnside regarding the legal status of Mr Komesaroff's position during the period of his time at Lentils. Mr Paul James was likewise never a Member of the company, and thus never legally a Director by the company constitution.
This leads to another key issue present during the final few years of Lentils; which was the fact that the concerning amount of financial withdrawals made by Mr Komesaroff were entirely out of the jurisdiction of his formal capacity.
Further below is attached a ledger of financial transactions which were withdrawn by Mr Komesaroff from the PayPal account during the span of 6/11/2020 to the 28/11/2020. These were all illegal given his position in the company at the time, and furthermore, were made without the consent of the organisation. The Financial Controller at the time, Mr Matt Petit continously asked him for clarification and explanation regarding these transactions, especially given that the total sum represented a greater portion of the avaliable liquidity in the entire company, as well as the fact that these were publically raised to help get Lentils into a better financial status. These were funds raised from the public GoFundMe campaign established by the Lentils team which Mr Komesaroff was a staunch opponent of, desiring a legal restructuring of the company over preserving the grassroots foundation which Lentils was built upon. The campaign was conducted as a final effort to avoid giving Mr Komesaroff the standing to restructure the company along his desires by the team.
This ironically, did not stop him from illegally appropiating these funds for his own, unspecified or vague purposes which included in particular his relationship with the RSM Accounting firm, that provided the initial fabricated "allegations" of misconduct against Mr Shanaka Fernando. Other details or expenses are remaining yet to be disclosed by Mr Komesaroff.
Here are some further email extracts from the time from Mr Petit regarding the unconsentual appropiation of company funds during the time by Mr Komesaroff.
Mr Petit's request was ignored and met with hostility by Mr Komesaroff who attacked his competency as a Financial Controller instead. Mr Komesaroff's response came at 11 PM on Monday 16/11/2020, after he had taken a further $10,000 without the consent of Mr Petit or the rest of the company.
Mr Petit recieved no further clarification and emailed Mr Komesaroff again on the 26/11/2020 after noting another $19,000 had been taken. Mr Petit noted that Mr Komesaroff seemed to have an odd prioritisation of paying expensive external consultants over employee wage and superannuation obligations, and noted further that Mr Komesaroff's actions did not seem consistent with that of someone who was acting in good faith to the company.
Mr Komesaroff responded not with any clarification to the application of these funds but with further hostility against Mr Petit, and questioned his character, competence and material interests as a Director. Mr Petit responded in good faith, answering Mr Komesaroff's concern and re-clarified the distribution of funds from the GoFundMe campaign which were circulated to the Board on Sunday 22/11/2020.
There was a culture of transparency which was practiced at Lentils. Requests for information, even under hostility were provided as is the right for Members to request (not that Mr Komesaroff was one, or ever a legitimate Director for that matter). This is the key reason why these fabrications had such a significant impact upon the wellbeing of Mr Fernando as well as the good name of the company, particularly given the sensationalisation of this by the mainstream media. He was heavily affected in his mental state and as a direct result, he filed a claim with WorkCover for the harassment, bullying and abuse that he sustained whilst in the organisation by Mr Komesaroff.
Below is the WorkCover claim filed by Mr Fernando following the chaos of the period.