A bishop in Camberwell was found guilty of fraud by Inner London Court on December 8.
Bishop Climate Wiseman, 46, of the Kingdom Church in Camberwell was accused by Southwark Council of selling a mixture of oils marketed as a “‘plague protection kit”’ at the start of the first lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, according to media reports.
Southwark Council received a complaint that the Kingdom Church was selling the kit for £91, claiming it could cure the Corona Virus, on March 24, 2020, the day after England was placed under lockdown according to a statement posted on their website.
Southwark Trading Standards wrote to Wiseman asking him to remove all mentions of ‘plague or coronavirus protection’ from his website and literature, which Wiseman did not heed.
Wiseman was accused of preying on the frightened minds of the masses in the uncertain time of the coronavirus outbreak when people were scared for their lives. The preacher told his congregation they would “drop dead” if they did not purchase the “‘protection kits”’ which aside from oil included red yarn.
Prosecutors claimed he made “untrue and misleading” claims about the product. Wiseman’s lawyer, Nargees Choudhary, responded that Wiseman had freedom to practice his religion and was not being “dishonest”.
Evidence against Wiseman included secret recordings and testimonies from a BBC news investigation. Wiseman’s own internet content showing how to use the kit was also available to the investigators’ aid. Wiseman claimed that the church had no ties to the fraud, which was discovered to be false by the BBC team of investigators.
A Southwark Council spokesperson said: “We are delighted with this guilty result, it shows that no one is above the law. We hope that it will help to protect people from those who work to take their money, for any product that simply can’t do what they say it will.
”Wiseman’s claims preyed on people from the start of the first lockdown, a time when most of us were scared and worried about coronavirus and what the future held. Wiseman’s behaviour was little more than exploitative commercial opportunism disguised as an article of faith.”
An executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that no licensed COVID-19 treatment existed in March and April of 2020.
