Ebenezer Oduntan, a former pastor of the City of David Church in Naas, County Kildare, was prosecuted on 87 counts of fraud and theft at the Naas Circuit Criminal Court after a three-week trial. Since 2015, the church—a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Nigerian organization—has called Naas Enterprise Park home. Oduntan, 58, a resident of Curragh Grange, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, entered guilty pleas to 19 counts of stealing, 5 counts of fraud, and 9 counts of giving false information to the Companies Registration Office during the trial, although he rejected 54 other accusations.
From 2012 to 2020, Oduntan, who was the pastor, had sole authority over the church’s finances. Judge Martina Baxter characterized Oduntan’s activities during sentence as a “very prolonged, premeditated and well-planned scheme,” emphasizing that because of the congregation’s high regard for him, he was the only one responsible for the church’s funds. In court, it was shown that Oduntan had misappropriated church finances for his own benefit. He had written himself checks for as much as €20,000 and had used parishioner monies for his wife’s business and private health insurance. Furthermore, he falsified donation data in order to obtain from Revenue an amount greater than what was allowed under the Charitable Donation Scheme.
Prosecution attorneys disclosed that between 2012 and 2018, Oduntan transferred five times his declared income through his bank accounts, which they attribute to the church’s lack of financial controls that enabled his theft. Oduntan cut all links with the church in 2020, but despite receiving a prison sentence, none of the stolen cash have been found.
Oduntan acknowledged using between €15,000 and €25,000 of the money that was taken for himself and his family during the trial. But given his delayed admission of the crime after the church’s assets were depleted, the court pointed out anomalies in his regret. Oduntan’s attorney emphasized his subsequent social isolation and lack of past convictions in their plea for mercy. Judge Baxter, however, underscored the gravity of Oduntan’s breach of fiduciary obligations and breach of trust by concurrently imposing terms of seven years for deception, six and a half years for theft, and three and a half years for giving false information to the CRO. Each sentence had a six-month suspension period, with credit for service spent since March 13, 2024.
