How congregants funded luxurious life of glitz pastors

Topping the checklist of glitz pastors who got here to South Africa on vacationer visas, bribed their technique to everlasting residency, and constructed up big congregations of followers who funded their luxurious life is Shepherd Bushiri, now a fugitive from justice after he fled to his native Malawi.

He indulged in an extravagant purchasing spree with what the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) believes had been the proceeds of felony exercise, shopping for a $1.2m (R19m) personal jet and 6 homes price R30m — all money purchases. He additionally funnelled R7m into his private accounts.

Other syndicate members named in an explosive SIU report embrace:

• Nigerian pastor Taiwo Ogunlade, who runs a number of companies and charitable organisations, and his spouse Susan;
• Malawian citizen Sylvester Mkanda, a former adviser to Bushiri, and his spouse Hellen; and
• Nigerian pastors Timothy Omotoso and Olugbenga Mandaiyese. Omotoso flew again to Nigeria final yr after being acquitted of 32 prices of rape by the Eastern Cape High Court.

The SIU discovered that members of the syndicate adopted a constant modus operandi: they entered South Africa on vacation visas, prolonged their keep, entered into spousal agreements with native ladies, utilized for everlasting residency, after which divorced their South African spouses — and in some circumstances even utilized for naturalisation.

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