SPAC Nation: UK shuts Pastor Tobi Adegboyega’s church over ‘£1.9m fraud’
The United Kingdom Government has shut down Salvation Proclaimer Ministries Church, popularly known as SPAC Nation.
The London-based group was wound up after failing to account for over £1.87 million of outgoings and operating with a lack of transparency.
The investigation of the founder, 42-year-old Nigerian-born Pastor Tobi Adegboyega started years back.
Reports had it that he and one other spiritual leader, Mariam Mbula told their parishioners to raise £100,000 a week.
UK’s Insolvency Service in a statement on Friday said the church takeover was done in the High Court on June 9 before Judge Burton.
The Official Receiver has been appointed as the liquidator of the company.
The court heard that SPAC Nation was incorporated in 2012, a charity set up to advance Christianity.
Though it earlier received positive reviews, it attracted media scrutiny following allegations by former church members that they had been financially exploited.
The Insolvency Service received complaints about SPAC Nation before instigating its own confidential enquiries into the church group’s activities.
During the probe, a company director, Adedapo Olugbenga Adegboyega, also known as Dapo Adegboyega or Pastor Dapo, was interviewed.
Adegboyega revealed that the church group had over 2,000 members and 200 ordained ministers and pastors but failed to provide supporting information.
The government said further enquiries found that SPAC Nation either failed to comply or partially complied with statutory requirements, including providing data to support purported donations.
“The company’s financial statements in the two years to 31 December 2019 set out £610,000 of rent expenditure.
“However, the company did not have a single base of its own and would hire venues across London to hold services, at a significant expense”, the Insolvency Service noted.
