Olukoyede made the revelation on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony, where the pastor was present.
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the agency conducted a six-month investigation into the founder of Streams of Joy International, Pastor Jerry Eze, over suspected money laundering before eventually clearing him of any wrongdoing.
Olukoyede made the revelation on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony, where the pastor was present.
According to the EFCC boss, the probe was triggered by intelligence reports and formal petitions after the commission detected unusually large inflows of foreign currencies into Eze’s domiciliary account.
“We work by intelligence, we work by petitions,” Olukoyede said.
“At some point, I saw there was an account — a domiciliary account — dollars, pounds were dropping in like raindrops from Colombia, from America, from Sri Lanka, even from Togo.”
He explained that the volume and international spread of the transactions raised red flags within the anti-graft agency, prompting a full-scale forensic investigation into the cleric’s financial activities.
“I said, ‘Who is this man?’ I had heard about him, seen his face a couple of times, but never paid attention to what he was doing. I knew he was a pastor,” he added.
The EFCC chairman said investigators were subsequently deployed to scrutinise the accounts and financial records linked to the church and its founder.
“They said this pastor of Streams of Joy — go and investigate him. So we went ahead. We combed the books,” he stated.
Following preliminary findings, Olukoyede said Eze was invited for questioning at the commission’s headquarters. However, he noted that by the time the cleric appeared before him, the EFCC had already concluded its internal review.
“So he came to my office. He explained what he does, how the money comes, how he has been helping people,” Olukoyede said. “But I told him, ‘I didn’t call you here to explain. We have already done our work. I called you to commend you.’”
Despite clearing the pastor, Olukoyede stressed that the EFCC would continue to monitor financial flows where necessary, noting that vigilance remains central to the agency’s anti-corruption mandate.
He also used the occasion to caution religious leaders against engaging in fraudulent activities, warning that the commission had investigated and secured convictions against several clerics involved in financial crimes.
According to him, places of worship must not become safe havens for illicit financial practices but should reflect integrity and accountability.
