DAVAO CITY — The legal counsel of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) has denied reports that the church leader was detained at a Honolulu airport on Thursday over the USD350,000 cash and gun parts allegedly found in the private plane he boarded.
“It was not true that he was detained. It was not true that he was charged,” Quiboloy’s lawyer, Israelito Torreon, said Friday, noting that the pastor did not commit any crime in the United States.
Torreon said if Quiboloy was charged, it would have been improbable for him to leave US territory.
He confirmed that Quiboloy arrived in the Philippines at about 6:35 p.m. Thursday.
Torreon further dismissed reports that the pastor faced deportation proceedings as there was no case against him.
Quiboloy, he said, was allowed to leave because he did not commit any crime in the US.
While he was not with the church leader during the travel, Torreon said he talked to Quiboloy upon his arrival in the Philippines.
On the gun parts — and not firearms as reported – that were allegedly found inside the airplane Quiboloy boarded, Torreon begged off to comment, saying, it is in US jurisdiction and that he would rather leave it to his counterpart lawyer in the US.
He stressed it would be unethical to discuss the nitty-gritty of the allegation because he was not at liberty to give information as it is under US jurisdiction.
Asked if the airplane, a Cessna Citation Sovereign, is owned by the pastor, Torreon replied it would be irrelevant to the report.
Torreon also clarified that it was a routine function of the Customs and Border Enforcement Agents to board any aircraft leaving an airport. An online report of HawaiiNewsNow said Quiboloy was one of six passengers on board a Cessna Citation Sovereign, which was to leave for the Philippines.
The news report said that before its departure, Customs and Border Enforcement Agents boarded it and found tens of thousands of dollars in cash. The bills were all in USD100 reportedly folded and stuffed in socks in a suitcase.
According to the HawaiiNewsNow report, authorities also found parts to assemble military-style rifles. Quiboloy was temporarily detained at the airport, but was later released, it said.
With Quiboloy was a certain Felina Salinas, 47, of Makakilo, Hawaii. She was the only US citizen on the airplane, and was arrested after claiming the cash was hers, the news report said.
Salinas reportedly declared USD40,000 was hers but not the entire amount of USD350,000.
Salinas, who was charged with attempted bulk cash smuggling, is reportedly the business manager at Waipahu church location and a loyal supporter of Quiboloy. She was also released after posting a USD25,000 bond.
The private airplane remains in Honolulu, the report said. (Lilian Mellejor/PNA)
