An interim manager has been appointed at a London-based Muslim charity after concerns were raised about its trustee elections and governance.
The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Newbury Park Masjid, which exists to advance Islam amongst people living in Redbridge, in June 2024.
It has now decided to appoint an interim manager to tackle issues with Newbury Park Masjid’s governance, to the exclusion of the charity’s trustees.
The interim manager was appointed in early August and the commission confirmed that the inquiry into the charity remains ongoing.
The commission previously identified concerns about the charity’s governance and constitution in 2022 and issued it with an action plan and order to provide information to ensure its AGM and trustee elections were held lawfully.
However, the regulator said the charity failed to follow these actions and orders in full and went ahead with elections without acting on its advice.
The commission said at the time that it appeared most of the trustees listed on the public register remained in office longer than the constitution allows, meaning that the charity did not have enough properly elected trustees to make decisions.
Removed trustees ‘not happy’
A spokesperson for the charity said the trustees who have been removed are “not happy at all” and that they have “done nothing wrong”.
They accused the commission of making “factual errors” so an interim manager could be appointed and of misinterpreting the charity’s constitution.
The spokesperson also said one task of the interim manager is to recruit new members which they fear “has no knowledge about our locality”.
