Investors who put their faith in an investment scheme with
links to pastor Shepherd Bushiri's church are out of pocket after their money
was "lost".
About 250 members of the Mpumalanga branch of Bushiri's
Enlightened Christian Gathering church have reported the losses to church
leaders and to the Hawks. The members had invested the money with a senior
pastor at the church, Nicholus Mgiba, who is CEO of Merger Chen Solutions
(MCS).
Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said they were
investigating the reports.
Though no figures are known, other investors from Limpopo,
the Eastern Cape and Gauteng are also affected. In Mpumalanga, members said
they had invested R10m.
According to a document that investors claim was given to
them by MCS, and which the Sunday Times has seen, the congregants were promised
huge returns.
Those who invested R200,000 were promised R11.5m after six
months. Those who invested R1m were promised R57.6m in six months. Most
investors are said to be retired people.
In a meeting this week at Bushiri's Pretoria church, senior
pastors allegedly told investor representatives that Shepherd Bushiri Investments
(SBI) had also "been defrauded".
Shepherd Bushiri Trading, a subsidiary of SBI, invested
congregants' money in a fraudulent scheme, investors were told. Sowetan
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