The Charity Commission has appointed interim managers to Barnabas Aid as part of an ongoing investigation.
In September 2024, the commission opened a statutory inquiry to investigate serious governance and financial concerns at the Christian international aid charity including allegations of unauthorised payments to some of the current and former trustees and related parties.
A month later, it restricted Barnabas Aid’s ability to spend money, with any payment over £4,000 thereafter requiring the regulator’s approval.
Then in November 2024, two people were arrested as part of a police investigation into fraud and money laundering allegations at a linked “Barnabas family” charity.
The following month, the commission announced it was investigating four “Barnabas family” charities – the Oxford Centre for Religion in Public Life plus the Wiltshire-based TBF Trust, Reconciliation Trust and Servants Fellowship International.
As the investigation into Barnabas Aid continues, the commission this week appointed Edwina Turner and Catherin Gibbon of law firm Anthony Collins as interim managers of the charity to the exclusion of the charity’s trustees.
The interim managers will take full control of the charity’s administration, assets, records, banking and governance.
They will also investigate historic decision-making and related-party arrangements, protect and recover charity assets where necessary, regularise governance and report back to the commission, the regulator said.
Barnabas Aid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recent staff exodus
Barnabas Aid’s latest accounts state that “about three-quarters of the payroll” left the Christian charity between April 2024 and November last year.
Some 25 staff were employed by Barnabas Aid in the year ending 31 August 2024, before the departures, the report states.
The trustees criticised “obstruction and delays caused to the audit” by staff at Nexcus International, Barnabas Aid’s global wing, which has reportedly claimed the charity owes it £6.4m.
Their report alleges that Nexcus International has “day-to-day control” of Barnabas Aid’s finances, refusing access to its bank accounts and information about staff.
Nexcus International, which has since rebranded as Barnabas Aid International and is described as a “non-profit corporation in Virginia, USA”, previously said the report “contains a number of inaccurate or misleading statements”.
Related articles
