The Charity Commission has announced that it has opened a statutory inquiry into a Jewish grantmaking charity after it ignored official orders and “failed to meaningfully engage” with the regulator.
The Keren Chochmas Shloma Trust, which was registered as a charity in 2013 to advance the orthodox Jewish faith through the provision of grants, initially was subject to a regulatory compliance case.
Despite the regulator making “multiple attempts” to contact the charity over concerns about its finances, the charity reportedly “failed to meaningfully engage” with the commission, which led to its regulatory compliance case being escalated to a statutory inquiry.
Three sets of accounts overdue
The commission identified concerns about the trust’s financial management, including potential expenditure outside of its charitable objects; potential unauthorised trustee benefit, and a failure by the trustees to comply with their statutory duty to file accounts with the commission.
The trust is currently overdue in submitting its accounting information for the financial years ending 31 December 2024, 2023 and 2022, with the latter set of accounts overdue by more than 700 days.
According to the last set of accounts filed by trustees for 2021, the charity recorded an annual income of £1.89m and an expenditure of £1.93m.
The commission said some trustees have also failed to comply with legally binding orders from the regulator compelling them to provide information.
Its inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees have complied with their legal duties in relation to the charity’s administration, governance and management of the charity.
In particular, the commission will examine the trustees’ failure to file accounts and the charity’s financial management, including its viability and the extent of any unauthorised personal benefit.
The Keren Chochmas Shloma Trust has not responded to Civil Society’s request for comment.
