The Charity Commission has removed an anti-poverty charity from the register after a trustee was convicted of number of offences, including managing a brothel and concealing criminal property and using the charity’s bank account to launder funds in the proceeds of crime.
In January 2015 one of the trustees of London-based charity Urban Relief - Francis Uwagbae, 51 from Chingford - was jailed for 10 months for the “management of a brothel and concealing criminal property” at Blackfriars Crown Court.
The regulator opened an inquiry and has published its findings today. It said that it found no evidence that money in its bank account was “obtained or applied in furtherance of its objects”.
Urban Relief was registered in 2006 and its objects were to relieve poverty and financial hardship among West African people.
The inquiry report said that the trustees failed to co-operate with its inquiry and two of them were unaware that they had been named as trustees. It also said that the charity’s bank accounts did not correspond with information filed with the commission.
Carl Mehta, head of investigations, enforcement at the commission, said: “The trustees in this case failed to abide by even the basic duties of trustees and failed to cooperate with our investigation. This charity has now been removed from the register of charities and the trustee involved was held to account by the criminal justice system.”
Regulator appoints interim manager to Sikh charity
Separately the Charity Commission has also appointed an interim manager to a Sikh charity that it is investigating over concerns about potential unauthorised trustee benefit and unmanaged conflicts of interest.
The charity has not fully complied with previous action plans.
The regulator opened an inquiry into the Central Gurdwara (British Isles) London Khalsa Jatha in September 2015 after it had not fully complied with an action plan and to address allegations around private benefit.
In 2012 the commission had opened an operational compliance case to look into complaints about lack of adherence to the charity’s financial controls, financial irregularities and governance failures and the regulator “on-going internal dispute between the trustees had resulted in them not sharing financial and management information to enable them to properly administer the charity”.
The charity has objects which include advancement of the Sikh religion and the maintenance of a gurdwara - a Sikh place of worship.
The charity has not filed accounts for the past two years.
Tom Murdoch of Stone King was appointed as interim manager on 26 January. His task is limited to determining the membership of the charity. The charity’s trustees remain responsible for the day-to-day management of the charity, including its financial management.
