Rev. Emmanuel Nimely, the 58-year-old religious advisor and pastor to Liberia’s former President George Weah, has confessed to defrauding 90 people out of $87,300 under the pretense of facilitating their travel to Australia.
Nimely, who served as the religious advisor to former President Weah from 2016 to 2018, is currently the senior pastor of Weah’s Forkay Klon Church. Following his confession to the police, he was charged with theft of property and forwarded to court on Friday for prosecution.
At the Monrovia City Court, the defendant’s lawyer failed to secure a valid criminal bond for his temporary release. As a result, Nimely was ordered incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison, where he will remain until the appropriate bond is filed.
Court records obtained by FrontPage Africa reveal that Nimely allegedly committed the crimes in the ABC Community, Baptist Seminary in Paynesville between August 6, 2023, and December 2023. One of the victims, H. Momo Fortune, Jr., reported that he met Nimely on August 6, 2023. Nimely introduced himself as the pastor of Forkay Klon Church and the founder of the “Global Spiritual Cleansing Peace and Reconciliation Organization.”
During their meeting, Nimely deceitfully informed Fortune about a program called the “Healing Broken Hearts of Australia Reconciliation Conference and Crusade” and collected $3,500 from him under the pretense of providing an Australian visa for the conference. Fortune further reported that Nimely collected $970 each from over 80 people under the same pretense.
Nimely admitted to the allegations and explained that he had collected $970 per person as visa processing fees for the Australian conference. He confessed that, due to the failure to issue the visas and the inability to refund the money, the victims contacted the police, leading to his arrest and investigation.
The police investigation revealed that the Global Spiritual Cleansing Peace & Reconciliation Organization, established by Nimely, is a religious organization purportedly involved in conferences, prayer meetings, and teachings about peace and reconciliation. However, the investigation uncovered that the organization engaged in fraudulent activities, specifically organizing fake foreign conferences.
The investigation further revealed that Nimely orchestrated a scam visa program for a five-day conference scheduled in Australia from December 5 to 9, 2023. He created a false flyer with the images of the Liberian, Kenyan, and Australian flags, bearing the theme “Healing the Broken Hearts of Australian Reconciliation Conference & Crusade.”
Since news of the scandal broke, neither the office of former President George Weah nor his Forkay Klon Church has issued a statement. Meanwhile, Nimely will remain in pre-trial detention until his lawyer secures a valid criminal bond for his temporary release.
