Picture caption MP Steve Reed (left) and
MP Steve Reed (left) and Dapo Adegboyega of SPAC Nation on BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme
Parliament is to debate the actions of an evangelical church accused of being a “cult exploiting younger individuals”
London based mostly SPAC Nation, praised for serving to ex-gang members, has been accused of monetary exploitation and fraud by Croydon North MP Steve Reed.
The church, which is beneath investigation by the Charities Fee and the Met Police, denied the claims.
It accused the MP of discrediting the church for political achieve.
Wednesday’s parliamentary debate was introduced by Mr Reed, who advised the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme the size of the exploitation was on the extent of the Rotherham child abuse scandal.
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@SPACNation
The Croydon North MP has referred to as for an inquiry into the actions of a church group SPAC Nation
A report by BBC Panorama featured former SPAC Nation members who accused the church of wrongdoing, with one former senior member saying the church “needs to be shut down”.
One member claimed she was persuaded to commit profit fraud by a trustee, whereas one other mentioned she had a £5,000 mortgage taken out in her title with out her information.
Mr Reed mentioned he had additionally been contacted by former members about an alleged sexual exploitation and had handed this, and all info, on to police.
The MP claimed hundreds of “vulnerable” younger individuals had been “befriended”, separated from their households and buddies and “brainwashed” earlier than being “coerced into making fraudulent purposes for loans”.
However SPAC Nation’s Reverend Dapo Adegboyega denied all of the Labour MP’s accusations.
He confirmed the church “had been participating with the charity fee for months,” including: “An inquiry is just not a discovering of wrong-doing.”
The pastor mentioned the fee was merely finishing up its obligation to verify issues.
“As of now we aren’t conscious of any investigation,” he added.
He accused the MP of intentionally launching his accusations throughout the 2019 normal election marketing campaign by contacting “faceless people on the web” to besmirch one of many city’s Tory candidates who had connections with SPAC Nation.
In December, the charities regulator revealed it had opened its personal investigation into SPAC Nation’s safeguarding and funds.
The Charity Fee mentioned it was nonetheless finishing up a evaluate of the church’s procedures.
The Metropolitan Police continues to be reviewing allegations of doable fraud and different offences earlier than deciding whether or not to research additional.