MANILA – The camp of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy questioned the legality of the Court of Appeal’s (CA) order freezing his bank accounts and assets.
Atty. Israelito Torreon, one of the lawyers of KOJC, said in a statement over the weekend that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should review the CA order.
“Noong nag-interview kasi ‘yung DOJ spokesman na ‘yung basis daw nila is ‘yung nandoon sa United States of America, kailangan talaga na suriin ito ng masyado,” Torreon said.
“Mayroon naman tayong territoriality principle insofar as crimes are concerned. Those committed in United States of America, as a general rule, should be tried in America,” he added.
CA issued an order freezing several bank accounts and properties of Quiboloy after the appellate court found reasonable ground to believe that these are “linked to unlawful activities and predicate crimes” based on the petition submitted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
The bank accounts of KOJC and the Swara Sug Media Corporation, which operates the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), were also ordered frozen.
Torreon also said they wanted to know the pieces of evidence stated in the petition, which proved that Quiboloy used the frozen bank accounts in the alleged unlawful activities.
“What are evidences that they can show to link, to cause the reasonable relation between the so-called unlawful activity with the particular properties that are owned by the kingdom,” Torreon said.
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that all of this is political. That’s our belief. We may be mistaken but that is our belief that all of this is political. The closeness of Pastor Quiboloy and our beloved former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” he added./PN
