Milimani Court Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi on Monday, May 22, granted New Life International Church Pastor Ezekiel Odero access to all his bank accounts which had been frozen for 15 days.
Appearing before the court, Lead Investigator Inspector Martin Munene revealed that all the banks had complied with the orders and granted access as earlier requested.
Munene also explained that, unfortunately, none of the bank accounts were in the name of Pastor Ezekiel as they had previously anticipated in their application.
The Magistrate had previously given the investigators 30 days to probe the accounts but later revised the order to 15, which came to an end on Sunday, May 21, 2023.
In the oral adjudication, Pastor Ezekiel's Lawyer Danstan Omari told the Magistrate that a team of investigators had visited Pastor Ezekiel's Mavueni residence in order to review evidence.
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta accompanied Pastor Ezekiel during the review of evidence and recording of statements by the officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The founder of New Life Prayer Centre and Church in Kenya, is under investigation over the alleged indoctrination of members.
The investigations were launched following the deaths and recovery of bodies from Shakahola Forest.
As part of the investigations, the DCI questioned Pastor Ezekiel Odero over his teachings and asked him to provide more information about his relationship with Mackenzie.
Pastor Odero, however,s denied any wrongdoing and maintained that he was cooperating with the investigations.
Odero was accused of using his position to exploit his followers financially and using his church to promote indoctrination.
He, however, denied all of these allegations maintaining that his teachings are based on the Bible, and that he is committed to helping his followers grow in their faith.
