The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Worldwide Ummah Aid after concerns that a trustee stopped by police may have been leaving the country with charitable funds.

The Commission has frozen the London-based Muslim aid charity’s bank accounts and suspended one of the trustees following the launch of the inquiry last month.

It will look into the governance of the charity, trustee decision-making, and financial controls. In particular it will look into the use of cash couriers to carry charity assets overseas.

“The inquiry was opened on 18th August 2014, following concerns that charitable funds had been seized from a charity trustee during a routine check conducted by the Metropolitan Police as the individual left the country,” the Commission said in a statement. “At the time of the check a charity trustee gave inconsistent information to the police about the nature of his journey, the amount of funds on his person and its provenance.”

Worldwide Ummah Aid was founded in 2012, and has filed one set of accounts, which show an income of £52,000.

The Commission last month opened an investigation into a similarly-named charity, the Ummah Welfare Foundation, but said there was no connection between the two charities. Ummah, an Arabic word meaning community, is commonly used in the names of Islamic charities.