Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre, Matthew Ashimolowo, has denied losing $5million in a ponzi scheme operated by former Premier League footballer, Richard Rufus, who played as a defender for Charlton Athletic.
Trustees of the mega church were criticised by the UK Charity Commission for failing to exercise sufficient care when investing £5m of the charity’s funds through an unqualified trustee.
The findings of an inquiry published December 14, 2016 by the Charity Commission for England and Wales revealed that the Kent-based KICC with 12,000 members suffered a net loss of about $4.8 million (£3.9 million) after its trustees invested over $6.1 million (£5 million) in four installments between June 2009 and June 2010 .
Rufus was a member and former trustee of the church.
He had guaranteed that the investments would earn a sizable return totaling about 55 percent in a year.He was last year found guilty of defrauding about 100 investors out of a total of $10,731,159 (£8,682,343) in the £16-million investing scheme.
Kingsway International Christian Centre was the single largest investor in the scheme.
Ashimolowo, 64, with a net worth of between $6-10 million has, however, distanced himself from the uninformed investment.
“The attention of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo and KICC has been drawn to publication in the media with the headline: ‘Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo loses $5million to Ponzi Scheme’,” a statement by KICC said.
Chief Executive Officer, Dipo Oluyomi and Chief Operating Officer, James Mcglashan, signed the statement on behalf of KICC.
“We wish to state that the headline was unfortunate and misleading and has caused damage to the reputation of Pastor Ashimolowo,” it continued.
“The sensational headline suggests that Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo lost $5million when INFACT HE DID NOT and did not make the decision to invest.
“Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo is the Senior Pastor of KICC and not her trustee and has never been a trustee of KICC.
“As you are aware from the Charities Commission’s report, the decision to invest was solely that of the U.K trustees without any involvement of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo. Importantly as the report states, it is the trustees who have the responsibility for investing Charity Funds and NOT PASTOR MATTHEW ASHIMOLOWO.
“The investment referred to were made by former trustees on behalf of the Charity over SEVEN AND HALF YEARS AGO. They believed they were acting in the best interest of the Charity and they did not and have not benefited personally.
“Their actions were totally independent and were not influenced in any way by Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.
“Now that we have appraised the publisher(s) and author(s) of the report of these facts, we strongly encourage you to set the record straight by publishing this rejoinder immediately.
“KICC is a Charity whose main aim is to advance the Christian religion in the U.K. and around the world as well as provide local communities with a great deal of counselling and support, including educational, bereavement and prayer support.
“Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo preaches around the world on behalf of KICC, spreading the word, touching lives both home and abroad, raising Champions and the profile of KICC.”
