The Scottish charity regulator has cleared a church of any financial wrongdoing, following the conviction of one of its preachers for sexual assault.

A spokesman for OSCR, the Scottish charity regulator, confirmed to Civil Society News that it had launched an inquiry into the Stirling-based church, Agape For All Nations Ministries International, after receiving a complaint about its fiscal dealings, including allegations that Agape leader Walter Masocha used church funds to purchase his home.

The spokesman said that after investigating the allegations, the church was absolved of any wrongdoing.

“We can confirm that we have concluded our inquiry into Agape For All Nations Ministries International. We reviewed the charity’s financial processes and procedures and found that they were comprehensive.  

“We were also satisfied that the charity trustees were acting on advice from their auditor to make any necessary improvements.”

According to the church’s account information on OSCR, the organisation double defaulted on filing its annual accounts to the regulator in 2011 and 2012. The OSCR spokesman said that this did not factor into the regulator's inquiry.

The news comes a few months after preacher and church leader Walter Masocha was found guilty of sexually assaulting members of his congregation in June and was sentenced to 250-hours of community service.

During Masocha’s trial he was also accused of “pressurising worshippers into donating cash” to him, which he then allegedly misspent.  

A spokesman for Agape Church said: “Some very serious but malicious and baseless allegations were made about the church and the use of funds for charitable works.

“We were delighted to assist the OSCR investigation team and cooperated fully as they carried out a very detailed inquiry into all aspects of the finances.

“We have now received written confirmation which states that the financial processes and procedures are ‘comprehensive’ and that they have no recommendations to make on our financial matters.”