The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) International, has denied allegations of financial misappropriation leveled against it by the UK Charity Commission, and has in turn, accused the agency of bias and discrimination in its report.
The UK Charity Commission had recently frozen assets belonging to MFM over what it described as transparency concerns after it opened an inquiry into the financial dealings of the church and in its report, stated that financial concerns were identified, which included alleged misappropriation of charity funds by its trustees.
The agency report had also stated that it found out that trustees in the MFM charity wing could not demonstrate that they had adequate oversight or control over more than 100 bank accounts operated by individual branches.
But while responding to the report in a statement on Saturday by its Public Relations Officer, Dan Aibangbe, the church said the Commission’s report was “a gross distortion of facts and a deliberate mischaracterisation of a closed chapter.”
Aibangbe insisted that the church did no wrong nor committed any fraud as its trustees were never found wanting.
“The issues raised were related to administrative governance, not a finding of fraudulent activity by the trustee body. This matter is old and not a fresh development,” the statement titled ‘A Point-by-Point Rebuttal: Setting the Record Straight on the MFM–UK Charity Commission Matter,’ said.
It added that the report was not just misleading but presented in a way to make it seem like a current scandal involving the church as none of the church’s accounts were frozen.
“No bank accounts belonging to MFM were ever frozen. The commission’s report identified no evidence of systemic financial misconduct by the trustees. The entire process was a display of overreach, not an exposure of fraud,” the statement added.
Continuing, Aibangbe maintained that the Charity Commission did not act on concrete evidence but on rumours and gossip, claiming that the regulator’s expectations of uncovering large-scale fraud proved unfounded after it gained access to the church’s financial records.
“When the Commission examined the records, it found nothing of the sort. Rather than close the case honourably, it embarked on a fault-finding mission, highlighting minor administrative discrepancies to justify its intrusion,” Aibangbe said.
The church described the commission’s actions as part of a pattern of procedural flaws, recalling that MFM had previously challenged the regulator’s methods in a British court and secured a judgment against what it described as improper procedures and overreach.
“The Charity Commission appointed an interim manager to oversee MFM’s UK operations, but the individual’s five year tenure was more about revenue generation than stewardship.
“The interim manager showed no genuine interest in the church’s ministry, never visiting a single MFM branch in the UK throughout his tenure. Yet, he charged the church a staggering £2 million for his ‘services’—a colossal fee for a process that yielded no evidence of wrongdoing.
“The five-year ordeal was not about protection but predation. What the Commission spent half a decade attempting to prove could have been resolved through cooperative guidance in a single month.
“The most powerful testament to the church’s integrity is this: not a single penny was mismanaged by the trustees. The issues raised were purely related to governance and record-keeping in a fast-growing organisation, not the diversion or theft of funds.
“Crucially, the leadership was already aware of the administrative gaps and had started taking steps to professionalise its governance structure. The Commission’s premature and heavy-handed investigation punished the church for being a victim of its own success.
“The report was a biased, costly, and ultimately baseless persecution and a pattern of prejudices deployed against African-founded churches operating in the UK.
“MFM remains committed to transparency and accountability but calls for fair treatment of faith-based organisations, regardless of their ethnic or cultural origins.
“The entire ordeal reeks of discriminatory and arrogant oversight. It was a display of institutional overreach, leveraging state power to burden and punish a thriving faith community. The truth has prevailed, and the church marches on—stronger and wiser,” the church added.
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