EFCC arrests cleric over alleged N1.3bn fake grants
The General Overseer of Faith on The Rock Ministry International, Apostle Theophilus Oloche Ebonyi, has been apprehended by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of defrauding church members and others in Nigeria.
The EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, revealed in a statement on Monday that Ebonyi is accused of fraudulent activities amounting to N1,319,040,274.31 using fake grants purportedly from the Ford Foundation.
According to the EFCC statement, Ebonyi allegedly deceived individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by promoting an intervention project through his NGO, Theobarth Global Foundation, and claiming that the Ford Foundation was providing a $20,000,000.000 grant to support the less-privileged in society.
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He allegedly reached out to potential recipients through social media platforms to market the supposed grant from the Ford Foundation.
The statement added that Ebonyi “allegedly beguiled his victims to subscribe as beneficiaries of the phony grant by asking them to pay for registration forms and clusters.
“Each subscriber was made to pay N1,800,000. Through this arrangement, Ebonyi allegedly raked in N1,391,040,274.31. His subscribers are innocent and unsuspecting Nigerians and NGOs across the country.”
‘’Investigations by the EFCC showed that Ford Foundation had no arrangement, grant, relationship or business with Ebonyi. The Foundation pointedly disclaimed him and his NGO, stressing that it had no link whatsoever with them.’’
