The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into a church that was reportedly promoting fake Covid-19 protection kits.
According to various media reports, the protection kits consisted of a small bottle of oil and a piece of red yarn, and were sold for £91.
The regulator initially opened a regulatory case into the Kingdom Church GB over the “plague protection kit” earlier this year. This led to liaison with Southwark Council, which had opened a Trading Standards investigation into the sale of the kits.
Subsequently the Commission examined the charity’s records, which led to concerns about the accuracy of information provided to the Commission regarding the charity’s income and expenditure.
The regulator's website says the charity accounts for 31 Dec 2018 were received on 9 Jul 2020, 252 days late.
The inquiry will now include examination of the charity’s relationship with a connected organisation called Bishop Climate Ministries, which the charity has said was responsible for the sale of the “plague protection kits”.
‘Invisible barrier’
Bishop Climate Wiseman, head of the Kingdom Church in Camberwell, wrote in a blogpost in March that the kit as “an invisible barrier to the powers of darkness”.
He said: “It is by faith that you can be saved from every pandemic by covering yourself with the divine plague protection oil and wearing the scarlet yarn on your body.
“That is why I want to encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to get your divine plague protection kit today!”
He was quoted by the PA news agency in April as saying that more than 1,000 of the kits had been sold.
Statutory inquiry into the charity launched in August 2020
As a result of these concerns, the Commission launched a statutory inquiry into the charity on 7 August 2020.
The inquiry will examine the trustees’ compliance with their legal duties around the administration, governance and management of the charity, and the extent to which the trustees responsibly managed the charity’s resources and financial affairs, and particularly how they have managed conflicts of interest.
The Commission said it has intervened to ensure the charity removed all known links to sales of the kits from the charity’s web and social media sites. The regulator will continue to liaise with Southwark Council Trading Standards’ investigation into the sale of the kits.
Helen Earner, director of regulatory services at the Charity Commission, said: “Charities should be organisations that people can trust. Many will have been concerned by allegations about this charity’s activities in relation to Covid-19, and so it is right that we, and others, have intervened.
“Our own examination into The Kingdom Church GB has identified further concerns that require investigation which is why we have now opened an official inquiry.”
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