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Charity Commission clears London Philharmonic Orchestra trustees after fraud scandal

Governance | Hannah Bewley | 20 Jan 2011

The Charity Commission has cleared trustees of the London Philharmonic Orchestra of any wrongdoing after its former finance director was jailed for four years for defrauding the charity.

Releasing its report today, the Commission said that it was satisfied that the trustees had "fulfilled their legal duties and responsibilities in responding to the fraud" that is estimated to have cost the charity £2.1m. 

Cameron Poole left his post as finance director of the charity in August 2009, and in November of that year auditors realised large-scale fraud had taken place when preparing the end-of-year accounts.

Poole stole £666,000 from the Orchestra according to a forensic investigation commissioned by the charity. But it is estimated that the total loss incurred was £2.1m as inaccurate financial projections, created by Poole, meant the charity overspent significantly from June 2005 to August 2009. 

As the second most senior member of staff dealing with finance, Poole was able to perform many tasks unsupervised and took two-thirds of the amount by forging signatures on cheques that required two signatures.

The investigation was made more complex by the temporary closure of the Royal Festival Hall which suspended normal activity, making spotting irregularities harder. But it is believed Poole used the stolen funds to pay for flights, jewellery, works of art and an extension to his £900,000 home, which has now been sold to reclaim losses. 

Legal action against Poole saw the charity recover £1.2m of lost funds and its former finance director jailed for four years.

The Commission praised the Orchestra's action following the case, including the forensic investigation and the tightening of its financial controls. 

Kenneth Dibble, director of legal services and compliance at the Commission, said: "This case demonstrates that theft of charitable funds is unacceptable and that those found to have defrauded a charity can expect to receive appropriate sentences.

"In this case, the trustees of the London Philharmonic Orchestra responded well to the situation and have therefore been able to recover the funds stolen and have put systems in place to better protect their charity from future harm.”

The Charity Commission has produced Internal Financial Control for Charities which contains a checklist for charities to evaluate their financial performance against legal and good practice guidelines.

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