The authorized counsel of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder and pastor Apollo Carreon Quiboloy on Saturday dismissed the US Department of the Treasury-Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC’s) allegations of significant human rights abuses.
At a press convention, Atty. Manny Medrano stated the US Treasury Department’s assertion was “outrageous grandstanding and utter politics by the US government.”
“This document presents an act as if the pastor has been convicted. They are mere allegations that we submit are false and they are not true. The pastor has not been convicted of anything and that is why this is so outrageous, based on mere allegations,” Medrano stated.
Medrano stated the doc additionally maligned the great title of Quiboloy, who he stated devoted his whole life to God, his group, and fellow-men worldwide.
“I am an American. I love my country. But today, I am embarrassed. How can a country like the US, with that rich history of protecting rights and due process, issue a press release like this?” he stated.
In an announcement, the US Department of the Treasury stated Quiboloy was among the many over 40 people and entities that have been sanctioned as a consequence of their supposed connection to corruption or human rights abuse throughout 9 international locations.
The OFAC cited a report of a feminine who supposedly was pressured to have intercourse with Quiboloy, at the very least as soon as every week even when she was a minor and in each nation they visited. She stated she misplaced rely of the variety of occasions the act occurred.
The OFAC additionally alleged Quiboloy had subjected pastorals and different KOJC members to different types of bodily abuse, together with personally beating the victims and sending them to “Upper Six,” a walled compound used solely for punishment.
Filipino lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, additionally a authorized counsel of Quiboloy, echoed Medrano’s statements, saying that the doc was “truly unprecedented.”
Topacio hoped there have been “judicial recourses” for the pastor.
“I am confident with the quality of legal representation the pastor has, this injustice will be set right at soonest possible time,” he stated.
He additionally stated that he had reservations concerning the constitutionality of the Magnitsky Act.
The Treasury Department had carried out the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which permits US officers to sanction overseas authorities officers accused of human rights violations.
Under the sanction, all property and pursuits in property of the designated individuals which might be within the United States or within the possession or management of US individuals are blocked and have to be reported to OFAC.
Asked what the authorized workforce meant to do, one other Quiboloy authorized counsel, Atty. Michael Jay Green, stated, “There is nothing to do and not giving the article the attention it needs.”
“I am not even giving them credit on this junk but if this was close to a trial and this was published in our country and it was on the eve of a trial, [there] will be a very very serious problem with this,” he stated.
Green additionally stated that they’ve witnesses that may absolve Quiboloy of the allegations. However, they might be arrested for “conspiracy” in the event that they enter the US.
“We have witnesses. We cannot force them to come back to the US so they can testify against the things that the pastor is being accused of and other people are simply not true,” he stated
“They were there, they saw it, they know the witnesses are lying. But if they come back they will be arrested and held in jail without being released on bail, and someone can charge them with being part of the conspiracy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Green stated Quiboloy was a “strong man,” and that he has “a heart and courage of a lion.” This will help him through these difficult times.
“That and his solid and beyond question faith in God. People depend and rely upon him and I think that gives him further strength and fuel to rise above these hurtful allegations to be able to perform the magnificent work that he does everyday,” Medrano stated. — DVM, GMA Integrated News
