The UK Charity Commission says it
is investigating SPAC Nation over allegations that its pastors told worshippers
to “take out loans and sell their blood in order to pay for the church’s lavish
spending”.
The church is run by Tobi
Adegboyega, a Nigerian pastor.
Mail Online reports that the
commission has ordered the church to bank all their money for the period of the
investigation.
HuffPost UK previously reported
that some members of the church allegedly took teenagers to donate blood for
medical trials in a practice known as “bleeding for seed”.
In November, it was reported that
SPAC Nation’s leaders threatened parishioners who failed to raise enough money
and one pastor had even asked her followers to “beg, borrow or steal” in order
to gather money for the church.
Mariam Mbula, a 30-year-old senior
leader in the church, had reportedly been jailed in the UK, Belgium and Spain,
and was also wanted for leading a crime gang in Italy.
The senior leader who had been
praised for turning her life around after she was jailed for fraud at the age
of 18, reportedly had at least 13 convictions for 34 offences; 27 for fraud and
dishonesty.
In a statement, the commission
said: “Of immediate concern to the commission is that substantial amounts of
charity money are held in cash”.
“As a protective measure, the
commission has issued an order under Section 84 of the Charities Act, requiring
the charity to bank its money.
“The commission is also concerned
about the apparent lack of clarity between the personal, business and charity
roles of leaders within the charity.’
A spokesman of the commission was
quoted as saying the issues raised about the church were “highly concerning”.
“The issues that have been raised
related to SPAC Nation in recent weeks are highly concerning, even more so as
the allegations are entirely at odds with the expectations about the way that
charities will operate,” he reportedly said.
“The opening of this inquiry is
an important step that will allow us to examine these concerns further and
establish the facts.
Reacting in a statement from its
board of trustees, SPAC Nation said the inquiry was “needful to lay to rest
some unverified allegations”.
“If anything is found wrong we
will adjust it, and if not we will keep going strong.
“If any pastor or leader is
caught pressuring people to donate, such leader will be expelled without delay,
not to talk of pressuring to donate blood for money.
“We encourage people to donate
blood and all they can for the community but we also say not for money ever,
that just won’t happen here.”
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