By Ifeanyi Hamilton Nwosa (Head, The New Diplomat’s Business Desk)
After prolonged years of diligent investigations into the finances of United Kingdom (UK) branch of Christ Embassy, founded by popular Nigerian pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, the UK Charity Commission has handed down a heavy indictment on the church’s board of trustees of a wide range of criminal infractions and fraudulent deals including illegally and inappropriately paying more than N827 million (£1,767,250) to entities and organizations which the church reportedly have close ties with.
Revealing the detailed outcome of the investigation by the Charity Commission on its website, the Chris Oyakhilome-led church’s board of trustees was incriminated for shoddy, dubious and unethical management of the church’s account, arbitrary and shocking payments, failure to comply with its grant-making policy and procedures, inadequate recording of its decision making processes and serious misconduct and/or mismanagement in the charity’s administration. All these infractions and breaches come with very severe penalties and repercussions which are in some cases, borders on trail for money-laundering, inappropriate financial transactions and violations of the relevant codes of the Charity Commission of the UK.
In one exceptional curious and most disturbing case in point, the inquiry found evidence the church may be laundering or diverting funds of up to N288 million (£615,420.00) from its UK branches to six accounts controlled by the church’s Nigerian branch, Christ Embassy Nigeria.
The Charity Commission also found that the church, which was founded in 1996 and has over 90 worship centres across the UK, illegally registered three properties in the names of two members of its board of trustees, failed to pay appropriate taxes worth over £250,000 on expenditures by employees, failed to secure adequate insurance, and had an instance of criminal violation of the UK town planning and building regulation
Subject matters under Investigations.
On 29 July 2013, the Commission opened a statutory inquiry (the Inquiry) into the charity under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act).The Inquiry closed with the publication of this report.The scope of the Inquiry was to examine a number of issues including:
*the transactions between the charity and “partner organisations” that include grants made to a number of unidentified entities and Loveworld Television Ministry, Healing School, International School of Ministry, Christ Embassy France, Christ Embassy Canada, IPCC Conference and Rhapsody of Realities
*the administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees with specific regard to connected party transactions in respect of payments to Loveworld Limited and the management of conflicts of interest
*the financial controls and management of the charity whether or not the trustees had complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law
Findings and results
Transactions between the Charity & “partner organisations”
The Inquiry team examined the accounts of the charity, for the period 2009-2011 which showed that the charity had paid substantial grants to organisations classified as “partner organisations”.
During 2009-2011, the charity’s accounts show grants amounting to £1,281,666 were paid to Loveworld Television Ministry; £118,995 to Healing School, £186,616 to International School of Ministry, £10,000 to Christ Embassy Canada, £10,566 to Christ Embassy France, £37,216 to IPPC Conference and £77,266 to Rhapsody of Realities.
The trustees provided the Commission with a copy of their grant making policy, and admitted to the Inquiry that “Prior to the involvement of the Charity Commission the grant making practice consisted of a discussion by the Trustees at a Trustee meeting regarding who should receive grant”.
Following his appointment on 6 August 2014, the Interim Manager (the IM) examined the charity’s records and found no evidence of compliance with the Grant Making Policy. Documents examined, by the IM, demonstrated a lack of records and receipts to account for grants made and there appeared to be little consideration given to whether the receiving parties had expended grants appropriately and for intended purposes, as was required by the policy.
This demonstrates failure to comply with its grant making policy and inadequate recording of decision making by the trustees which is misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.
Administration, governance and management of Charity by trustees-specific regard to connected party transactions in respect of payment to Loveworld Limited (also known as Loveworld Television Ministry – registered number 4691981) and management of conflict of interest
The inquiry had serious concerns regarding the trustees’ decision making relating to the charity’s relationship with Loveworld Limited.
It was established that Trustee C, was the sole shareholder of Loveworld Limited since its incorporation in March 2003. Trustee C had also been trustee of the charity between October 2009 and October 2015. The primary objective of the Loveworld Limited was to advance Christian programming in the UK and to provide entertaining and educational programmes for the diverse demographics of the UK, which it did by carrying out both radio and television broadcasting services.
The trustees informed the Inquiry, payments made by the charity to Loveworld Limited were not grants/donations as indicated in their accounts but represented payments for broadcasting services provided by the company to the charity. On 28 March 2013, the trustees were asked to provide all documentation held by the charity or its trustees that recorded the decisions made in respect of the payments by the charity to Loveworld Limited. On 19 September 2013, the trustees provided only two sets of minutes of trustee meetings (minutes of trustees meeting dated 6 January and 6 April 2012) that appeared relevant to the issue. However, neither set of minutes included any decision or resolution to make payments to a company of which one trustee was sole shareholder.
The trustees did not have any formal contracts in place, or indeed rationale for using Loveworld Limited as opposed to any other broadcaster. Additionally the IM, during his inspection of books and records found no evidence to suggest that any of the trustees considered whether the costs charged by Loveworld Limited were better value than the costs charged by any other service provider. The trustees have failed to take, or have failed to record, any proper decisions as to why such payments are in the best interests of the Charity.
