An Islamic charity based in east London, which failed to submit two years’ worth of accounts to the Commission, said its late filing was the result of an accountant leaving the country without notice and its treasurer falling ill.

The Qur’ani Murkuz Trust, which lists its charitable objectives as the holding of daily prayers and religious, educational classes and workshops for adults and children, failed to submit its accounts for the years ending 31 December 2012 and 2013.

Representatives of the charity were contacted by telephone on 8 January 2015 and told that if the documents were not submitted by 28 January the organisation would be under investigation. On 30 January, the charity became part of a Charity Commission inquiry into late filing charities.

On 19 February 2015, a representative of the charity contacted the Commission and said that the trust had been late filing its account because its treasurer had been hospitalised for over a year.

The representative also said that the charity’s trustees had been struggling to find a new accountant, after the last independent accountant it had engaged left the country at short notice, without returning important documents.

The outstanding accounts, along with its reports and annual returns for the financial year ending 31 December 2012 were submitted on 23 January 2015. The accounts for the year ending December 31 2013 were submitted on 11 March. Both sets of accounts were referred by the regulator to its accountant for scrutiny.

According to the most recent set of accounts filed by the Qur’ani Murkuz Trust, the charity had an income of £197,416 and spending of £141,248.

Due to the inquiry, over £377,500 worth of charitable income has been made transparent and accountable.

The charity was contacted by Civil Society News but at the time of publication, no-one had responded with a comment.