{"id":294113,"date":"2017-02-13T19:22:13","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T19:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=294113"},"modified":"2017-02-13T19:22:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T19:22:13","slug":"police-open-fraud-inquiry-after-mismanagement-at-ashimolowos-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=294113","title":{"rendered":"Police open fraud inquiry after ‘mismanagement’ at Ashimolowo’s church"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>The City of London police are investigating an alleged fraud involving a former Premier League footballer who lost \u00a33.9m from one of Britain\u2019s richest evangelical churches in a disastrous investment scheme.<\/p>\n

The criminal investigation follows a Charity Commission report into \u201cmismanagement\u201d at Kingsway International Christian Centre, which invested \u00a35m with the former Charlton Athletic player Richard Rufus. Rufus was found by a civil court judge in 2015 to have operated a Ponzi-style scheme between 2007 and 2011, losing or spending \u00a38m from several investors.<\/p>\n

Rufus was a leading member of the KICC whose \u201cfounder, visionary and senior pastor\u201d is Matthew Ashimolowo, a Nigerian evangelist who preaches a \u201chealth and wealth\u201d gospel to a congregation of thousands at his \u201cPrayer Palace\u201d in Kent. The largely African and Caribbean churchgoers are urged to give regular tithes and the church collected \u00a35.8m from them in 2015, according to the latest accounts.<\/p>\n

In 2009 and 2010 the trustees agreed to give Rufus \u00a35m to invest after he promised them returns of 55% a year at a time when interest rates were less than 1%. As well as millions in donations from churchgoers \u2013 which were boosted by gift aid tax relief \u2013 it had recently received \u00a310m from the London Development Agency, a public body that needed to demolish the church\u2019s then home in east London to build the Olympic Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetectives from City of London police\u2019s fraud teams are investigating,\u201d a police spokesman confirmed. There have been no arrests.<\/p>\n

In a damning set of conclusions published in December, the Charity Commission said the trustees \u201cdid not exercise sufficient care\u201d when they gave Rufus the church\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

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\"Richard<\/picture><\/div>\n
Richard Rufus playing for Charlton Athletic in 2001. Photograph: Jamie McDonald\/Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The regulator said they failed to check if Rufus had any investment qualifications or experience and gave little thought to the extraordinarily high rate of return Rufus was promising.<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s senior management team concluded his \u201cpersonal guarantee makes this as safe an investment as any\u201d and produced a report on the investment that included no checks on Rufus\u2019s past investment performance or any references from clients.<\/p>\n

It is the second time the Charity Commission has had to investigate the church. In 2005, when it was known as the King\u2019s Ministries Trust, the regulator ordered Ashimolowo to repay \u00a3200,000after it emerged he used church assets to buy a \u00a313,000 Florida timeshare and spent \u00a3120,000 on his birthday celebrations, including \u00a380,000 on a car. New trustees were appointed and Ashimolowo was removed from his role as chief executive.<\/p>\n

Ashimolowo knew about the investment with Rufus, the church\u2019s chief operating officer James McGlashan told the Guardian, but denies being any part of the decision to invest the money as he was not a trustee of the KICC.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The trustees\u2019] actions were totally independent and were not influenced in any way by pastor Ashimolowo,\u201d said Dipo Oluyomi, KICC chief executive in a statement.<\/p>\n

None of the current trustees were involved at the time of the investment.<\/p>\n