Hawaii court clears KJOC leader

THE camp of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ ( KJC) announced on Thursday, October 22, that the U. S. District Court of Hawaii cleared Hawaii leader Felina Salinas of currency smuggling charges.

In a forwarded statement, KJC General Counsel Lawyer Michael Green said the dismissal as a “triumph” for their camp, wherein her sentence was reduced to merely a month of detention and a small fine.

“Justice has finally been served and the truth has been told,” Green said in a press release forwarded to the media.

According to Green, Hawaii Chief Judge Michael Seabright allowed her to serve the sentence in May 2021 “when the Covid- 19 pandemic will be over, and a vaccine will have been discovered”.

The lawyer said Salinas’ sentence, handed down by the District Courthouse of Hawaii presided by Seabright in Honolulu, was the result of more than two years and eight months of litigation.

Green called it a “victory for Salinas and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.”

“This clears the name of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy and the Kingdom of Jesus

Christ of any charges,” the lawyer said.

According to a previous SunStar report, a US District Court complaint accused Salinas of bulk cash smuggling in 2018, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and forfeiture of the cash and property.

Salinas was boarding a private jet with Quiboloy in Honolulu when federal agents seized a suitcase with $ 335,000 hidden in it. She told the agents the suitcase was hers. She pled guilty to giving a false statement to a federal agent, claiming responsibility for the suitcase when she saw it was onboard, because it wasn’t supposed to be there.

Meanwhile, Green called Seabright’s decision “fair and balanced”, and ruled in favor of a one- month jail sentence for giving a false statement.

Green said that Salinas “did not even know what the suitcase contained because they have proof of her email to a woman whom she knew handled the suitcase, asking her what was in the suitcase”.

He added that the email proved to be “beneficial to Salinas’ defense”.