The Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Ministries International has dismissed the findings of the United Kingdom’s Charity Commission, which accused the church of “serious financial mismanagement.”
In a report released on Monday, the commission stated that it initiated an inquiry after raising financial concerns.
The regulator said the investigation revealed that trustees of MFM’s charity arm failed to demonstrate sufficient oversight or control over more than 100 bank accounts operated by individual branches.
“As a result of its findings, the Commission took action to freeze the charity’s assets to prevent further loss,” the report noted.
In a statement to TheCable on Tuesday evening, MFM spokesperson Dan Aibangbe described the report as disappointing “though not surprising.”
“This investigation has been flawed from the onset,” he said.
Aibangbe acknowledged “some shortcomings” on the part of the church but insisted that “the charity commission has exaggerated the findings to fuel their faulty stand.”
“The MFM challenged the charity commission in court during the course of the investigation and got judgment against their mode of investigation.
“At no time was the assets of the MFM Charity in the UK frozen by a court or the Charity Commission.
“What happened was that the Building Funds of the Charity was wrongly without information to the Charity transferred from Barclays Bank to the Royal Bank of Scotland with only the Signatory being the Interim Manager.
“Upon discharge of the Interim Manager, the full funds with interest has been returned back to Barclays Bank under the custody and control of the Charity Trustees.
“No assets of the Charity was frozen under any court order.”
Aibangbe further clarified that none of the trustees were found guilty of fraud or theft, calling the commission’s findings mischievous.