Allegations of financial impropriety against a Nigerian managed London based charity, Winners Chapel, have been dismissed by the UK Charities Commission.
In 2013, criticisms against Bishop David Oyedepo, Founder and President of Living Faith Ministries mounted as reports circulated that the London arm of the ministry was being investigated for misappropriation of £16 mln accrued to the church.
Tabloids went to town slandering Oyedepo, whose ministry also owns four private jets, accusing him of graft and greed.
However after rigorous investigations that spanned close to 24 months, the UK Charities Commission has found Winners Chapel London and Living Faith innocent of all allegations.
According to a statement released by the UK governing body, the trustees of Living Faith including Dr. David Oyedepo and his wife are not to be blamed but rather to be lauded for their management of the church.
According to the UK Charities Commission, the investigation was prompted by a certain unnamed “investigative journalist”
The statement from the Charities Board reads in part:
Our review of the charity’s financial information identified minor discrepancies. However, the trustees were able to explain and resolve these.
We found no evidence that £16 million or any other amount had been misappropriated.
We were satisfied the charity could demonstrate good financial controls, appropriate for a large and expanding charity. We provided the trustees with general financial advice and guidance on best practice with regards to categorising expenditure, gift aid and grant making in their accounts.
We confirmed the charity had an appropriate safeguarding policy in place which was based on the model provided by Churches Child Protection Advisory Service. The policy is extensive and covers all the recommendations in the commission’s guidance.
During our case we did not identify any evidence to suggest beneficiaries of the charity are at risk. The incident occurred in Nigeria and there were no incidents involving this charity.
The charity managed the reputational risk of its association with the incident in Nigeria by taking legal advice, discussing the matter at trustee meetings, responding to press queries and issuing statements as appropriate.
We identified a potential conflict of interest arising from the employment of an individual who was related to the founder. However, we were satisfied with the trustees’ decision making in respect of the employment. They demonstrated that the conflict of interest was managed and that they had appropriate policies which were applied.
Overall, its accounts were good and complied with the SORP for charity accounting; however our review of the accounts raised a number of issues to warrant further exploration including honorariums, transfers of funds, expenditure categories and gift aid. The trustees were able to provide satisfactory responses to the queries we raised on these issues.