The Hawkes resurrect a one-year-old case that led to the arrest of the leader of Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, Pastor Bushiri and his wife for fraud. Are South African devotees about to be disappointed with a fake pastor?
01/02/2019 – Silverton, Pretoria, South Africa -- South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, has reported that a church leader and his wife have been arrested on fraud and money laundering charges involving about R15m, or one million US dollars, without disclosing the couple’s identity. Later on, however, the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church released a statement regarding its leader, Pastor Bushiri, and his wife, Mary, stating that they were arrested based on fraud and money laundering charges.
The church’s statement reported that Pastor Bushiri has been struggling with accusative reports for a year now, and that he and his wife are currently detained by the Hawks in Silverton, Pretoria. The statement read: "at about 7 am on Friday, armed members of the police stormed the Sparkling Waters Hotel in Rustenburg". Later they found out that they were members of the Hawks, who "took the prophet and our mother, Prophetess Mary Bushiri, in handcuffs to Pretoria", as they expressed.
To shed more light on a case that could be crucial in standing up to fake pastors and exposing false prophets, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi was quoted: "The Hawks' case against the pair concerns alleged offenses of fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act”. He confirmed that their crimes were being committed since 2015. Their several business enterprises spanning South Africa were used to break Exchange Control Regulations relating to foreign currency in an amount of $1,147,200 (about R15.3m).
The couple is set to appear before the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court next Monday.
Source:
Times Live