Christ Embassy : Chaos Over £3 Million Unaccounted-For • UK Commission Freezes Church Accounts

In July 2013, the finances of Christ Embassy Church, came under investigation by the Charity Commission over “a number of serious concerns” about the ministry’s use of charitable funds.The commission said it was investigating “large connected party payments” and “the potential misapplication of grant funding” by Christ Embassy, but declined to give further details. According to Third Sector…
(UK’s leading publication for news in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector), a member of the public raised concerns with the commission in October 2012. The regulator took these up with the ministry but its questions were “not resolved”.The ministry’s UK accounts for 2011 show it had an annual income just short of £13m, of which £12.2m was voluntary income, but spent £8.1m. It had 28 full-time employees and spent £565,000 on staff costs.

The commission then appointed Rod Weston, a specialist business recovery partner at the accountancy firm Mazars, to take over the management of the charity on 11 August 2014. An inquiry had been opened into the charity in July 2013 over concerns that included large payments to connected parties.The commission has also made an order preventing several banks from parting with money they hold on behalf of the charity.A spokeswoman for the commission told ThirdSector that: “The charity’s trustees have appealed to the first-tier tribunal against the commission’s orders appointing an interim manager of the charity and preventing the banks from parting with monies held by them on behalf of the charity.”The spokeswoman said she could not confirm when the order was made to the banks. The appeal was made in the name of six of the seven trustees of the charity – the exception being Anita Oyakhilome.Her husband, Christian Oyakhilome, a leading figure in the church who features prominently on its website, is no longer a trustee of the charity, according to its entry on the commission’s register.