Charity investigated after trustee reported for brandishing firearm

17 Jul 2018 News

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a boarding school charity where a trustee was arrested after reports he was "brandishing a firearm" on the school’s premises. 

Darul Uloom School London provides an Islamic and national curriculum education and is currently being investigated by police, the Charity Commission, the Department for Education and the local council. 

According to the media reports police were called to the school in June after Yusuf Musa, a teacher and trustee who was the charity’s safeguarding lead, was reported to be “brandishing a firearm”. Police later found a toy gun, bladed weapons and £400,000 at a flat on the charity’s grounds. 

Yusuf Musa was arrested in connection with the incident and his father Mustafa Musa, who was the head teacher, was arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

The Charity Commission has suspended Yusuf Musa as a trustee and opened a statutory inquiry into potential misconduct and mismanagement. 

The inquiry will consider the management and oversight of the charity, including financial management, and the conduct of the individuals who have been arrested. 

Darul Uloom School London has an income of £412,000, according to its accounts for the financial year ending 31 July 2017. 

After the incident in June the secretary of state for education submitted a complaint to Westminster Magistrates Court requesting that the school be removed from the register of independent schools. At a hearing on 22 June a settlement between the Department for Education and the charity was reached. 

After that settlement was agreed, John Hartley, from solicitors Hodge Jones & Allen, which represents the school, told the Evening Standard that trustees "take their responsibilities for safeguarding children extremely seriously". 

"They have made significant structural changes to the school’s leadership and will keep the safeguarding of those children in its care under constant review," he said.

"However, they are pleased that the court has recognised improvements have been made and that there are no immediate reasons for the school to be permanently closed.”

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