Pastor Ezekiel Odera, on Tuesday, May 9, allayed fears that New Life Church operations had been paralysed after Milimani Magistrate Court granted the Directorate of Criminal Investigations orders to freeze his 28 bank accounts.
Addressing believers during a church service in Mavueni, Kilifi County, the man of the cloth revealed that he had invested in agriculture whose proceed were enough to sustain him till the embargo on his accounts is lifted.
His agricultural investments ranged from the rearing of chicken, goat and sheep as well as growing different types of crops.
"We won't sleep hungry because we have planted maize and vegetables. We also rear goats, sheep and chicken," Ezekiel stated.
The televangelist also welcomed DCI's decision to probe the source of his money insisting that the inquiry would set the record straight regarding his church.
He, therefore, directed his followers to continue remitting their offerings to the same frozen bank and mobile money accounts. In fact, he encouraged his followers to give more to enable the government to account for every penny in his accounts.
"Listen to me, I cannot withdraw the money. But it is good for the government to investigate to establish the source of the funds. But you, as believers, do not stop giving your offerings to the same till numbers that have been frozen.
"When you continue giving, they will know the source of those funds. In the morning, I also channeled Ksh300,000 to those frozen accounts," he added.
The pastor, however, vowed to utilise the funds collected from his other projects to continue with the various construction projects at his Mavueni Church.
The televangelist described the ongoing probe as a test of faith and maintained that he was ready to account for everything.
His accounts were frozen for 30 days on allegations of money laundering. DCI also sought orders to freeze them to substantiate the claims.
Lawyers Danstan Omar and Cliff Ombeta denied the allegations. They faulted the DCI arguing that they moved the matter to Nairobi, yet Shanzi Law Courts had jurisdiction to hear it.
"All those accounts are here in Mombasa, he doesn't have an account based in Nairobi. We really do not understand why they opted to move to Milimani magistrates court yet the accounts are here in Mombasa," Danstan lamented.
Further, they indicated that the televangelist struggled to clear legal fees after his accounts were frozen.
