A self-acclaimed Bishop who claimed he had a cure for Covid-19 has been found guilty of Fraud in a court in the United Kingdom.
The alleged man of God is the Pastor of the Kingdom Church in Camberwell, South London.
He was found guilty by a jury at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday of the offense of Fraud, which was committed between March 23, 2020, and March 24, 2021, at a majority of 11 to 1.
Bishop Climate Wiseman, 47, took advantage of the pandemic and fear to defraud his congregation and members of the public by selling “plague protection oil” as a covid cure.
The Bishop told his followers that they could “drop dead” if they didn’t buy his oil and asked them to buy various purported cures consisting of cedarwood, hyssop, and olive oil.
Wiseman sold the oil for £91 under various names – plague protection oil, divine cleansing oil, or divine plague protection kit.
He told the court that God inspired the cure after his visit and told him he was the Prophet who could cure Coronavirus.
The unrepentant Pastor told the court that he had performed various miracles, including curing the blind, and insisted that the oil could cure and prevent covid-19 for a member of his church.
The Pastor presented 10 members of this congregation as witnesses who told the court that they were cured or protected from contracting Covid-19 because they used the oil by inhaling the steam or robbing it on their skin as directed by Wiseman.
The Kenyan-born Pastor denied Fraud and two alternative counts under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.
The Pastor showed no emotions when the verdict was being read.
Judge Nigel Peters KC said the Pastor took at advantage of the fear among the public in the country to defraud vulnerable people.
“This was being touted at a time when the public in this country were under the most intense pressure as to what would happen tomorrow,” he said.
Pastor Climate Wiseman, otherwise known as Irungu, was first investigated in 2016 after claiming his oil could cure cancer, but the case was halted after the Pastor withdrew the product.
On March 24, 2020, BBC started an investigation into the fraudulent sale of the oil after Southwark Trading Standards was alerted to the scam.
Narrating his scam tactics, Richard Heller, the prosecutor, told the court how Wiseman claimed his oil containing three ingredients had “sat upon the altar for seven days.”
The Pastor posted on his official website that the oil act as a shield that “coronovirus and other diseases will avoid.”
The Pastor released a sales line where potential buyers called to get more information. Those answering the phones claimed the oil had cured many people, including at least 10 people with symptoms.
Speaking after the verdict, Southwark Councilor, Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Evelyn Akoto said, “There were a lot of vulnerable people at that time who was really scared and didn’t know where to turn.
“And this was a potential cure, so a lot of people believed in it, unfortunately, and succumbed to paying high costs for something we know doesn’t work.
“We’re absolutely delighted that we’ve got this guilty verdict.
“I think it shows that no-one is above the law, but most of all we are going a small way to protecting the community from being defrauded.
“I think it’s important to highlight that we’re not after a faith or a faith organisation as such but this is about an individual person and what he has done.”
