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Lawyer releases further details of the Tony Anthony investigation

More claims are being made that evangelist Tony Anthony did fabricate his life story in his book Taming the Tiger.

The senior lawyer who chaired an independent inquiry into Mr Anthony's written testimony says he has evidence that Mr Anthony was at school in London at the time he said he was in China training in Kung Fu.

John Langlois OBE said Mr Anthony attended Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, in East Finchley, London, followed by secondary education at Christ's College, Finchley. He also said he has evidence the evangelist and founding Director of Avanti Ministries was never involved in close protection as also claimed in the book.

Following discussions between the Evangelical Alliance (EA) and Avanti Ministries, Avanti agreed to set up an independent panel to investigate allegations against Mr Anthony.

The results - made public in July - concluded that parts of Taming the Tiger are not true.

The Avanti report concluded, based on the evidence submitted to it, that large sections of the book and associated materials are fake.

Mr Langlois told Premier's Marcus Jones on the News Hour why he has decided to go public with this latest revelation now:

Another research group investigating Mr Anthony's book wrote an open letter to Mr Langlois asking him to make known the findings after the EA said it couldn't publish the inquiry panel's full report because of a legally binding agreement with Avanti.

The letter stated:

"Given the very serious nature of this matter, this is a source of considerable distress and confusion in the wider Church and indeed among the general public.

"In the light of this, we therefore request that you, in your independent capacity as Chairman of the panel, now make public as full a report on your findings as you deem appropriate in the circumstances, in the interests of all concerned.

"We sincerely believe that this course of action is presently the best way to 'tell it to the church', in line with Jesus' teaching in such matters."

In an interview with Christianity Magazine in the September issue, Steve Clifford, the General Director of the UK EA said the report should be made public in the interests of transparency and to bring closure. 

Shortly after the results of the inquiry were published, the trustees and directors of Avanti Ministries announced they were closing the charity down.  The book's publisher, Authentic Media, also announced it was withdrawing it and relevant resources from sale.   

Taming the Tiger has sold more than 1.5 million copies in 25 countries and Mr Anthony travelled the world preaching the gospel in prisons, schools and churches as far away as Asia, South Africa and South America.

In an interview with Premier Radio on July 12th, Mr Anthony defended his story and said he wanted to amend parts of his book with recent information that he had received about his early life which required him to update and clarify his story.

Premier has contacted Avanti's lawyers about the latest revelation and is waiting for a response. 

 
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