SOUTH AFRICA – Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, leader of Enlightened Christian Gathering Church and his wife Mary Bushiri risk having their property seized.
According to City Press, detectives filed a preservation order seeking to seize assets pending the finalisation of the couple’s criminal case.
Sources close to developments claimed an application for permission to seize the Bushiris’ homes, cars and private jet had already been filed.
The couple boast a fleet of luxury cars including a Mercedes G63, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and other luxury vehicles.
The preservation order is expected to be granted after a week and will ensure the couple is unable to access their possessions.
According to another source, the process is crucial in order to bar Bushiri from selling his assets not only to fund legal bills, but to also try hiding them from the state.
With criminal activity dating all the way back to 2015, they also stand accused of contravening exchange control regulations when they used US Dollars to pay for Bushiri’s Gulfstream jet.
According to the affidavit, Mary bought the jet from National Airways Corporation in November 2015.
The jet is used to fly the couple between South Africa and their country of origin, Malawi.
According to City Press, Mary had traveled to the Joburg offices of the aviation company with a bag filled with cash.
Source : City Press
I dont trust Bushiri
…he had me arrested over my US$16m
CHARLES MUSONDA writes
@SunZambia
A ZAMBIAN mining businessman has appealed to the South African government to help him recover his US$ 16 million from embattled Prophet Shepherd Bushiri for the 500 kilograms of gold he got from him.
Shadreck Kapasa has told journalists in Lusaka that two years ago, Bushiri landed in Zambia in his private jet and the two signed a contract for supply of the gold, after which the clergyman collected the consignment.
“He told me to go the South African High Court in Pretoria to have the contract authorised and it was authorised. He later called me to go to South Africa to collect the money and he told me to call him when I reached South Africa.
“When I arrived there I called him but he told me that he was a bit busy and that he would send his people to bring the money. As I was waiting for the money, the police came and arrested me for fraud. I spent eight months in prison in Sun City before I was acquitted by the Commercial Crimes Court on grounds that there was no evidence to prove claims by Bushiri that he gave me money,” Mr. Kapasa said.
He said further, Bushiri also had his three business associates Daniel Phiri, Andrey Nawa, and Ephraim Musukwa arrested on similar allegations and the trio spent more than a year in prison.
He said after his release from prison, the South African authorities refused to give him back his passport and he only managed to travel back home using a travel document he obtained from the Zambian embassy in Pretoria.
Mr. Kapasa added that he received death threats that he would be killed if he did not leave South Africa immediately and that when he came back to Zambia, he tried to return to South Africa to seek help, but he found that his passport was blocked and he could not enter that country.
He said he has pictorial and documentary evidence that Bushiri met him in his office in Zambia before he collected the gold, and proof to show that he spent eight months in the South African prison.
He said the contract he signed with Bushiri was not street business and he has necessary proof to show that it was official. Mr Kapasa maintained that he does not care about what Bushiri’s followers are saying about the clergyman’s current situation and to him he is just a fraudster.