A further 12 charities have been investigated by the Charity Commission as part of its class inquiry into concerns about cheques being exchanged for cash.
HMRC recently made unannounced visits to a company in Hackney, east London, in which 105 charities were found to have cashed cheques with it to a value of £22m between December 2021 and March 2023.
The commission first investigated 10 charities as part of its class inquiry in May before adding a further 10 in August.
This week, the regulator announced 12 other charities have now been added to its investigation.
The new charities are: Beis Chinuch Lebonos Limited, Mars Org. Ltd, Bnei Zion Community Nursery, BC Trust, Reb Shayale’s Tzeduke, Noam Halvovos, Kollel Mishkon Yakov, Ttba Belz, Satmar Kolel, the Chevras Ezras Nitzrochim Trust, Support the Charity Worker and Edupoor Limited.
Alan Shelton, main trustee at education charity Edupoor Limited, said his organisation had been experiencing banking issues at the time of the cheques being cashed.
However, he described the commission’s investigation as going “overboard” and that his charity has had to spend money on it that would have gone to its cause.
The regulator has ordered all charities it is investigating, many of which have the advancement of the Orthodox Jewish faith among their objects, not to issue cheques without prior consent during the investigation.
It will use its inquiry powers to determine how these charities transferred funds and assess if cash was used properly.
Trustee oversight as to how the funds were managed will also be assessed.
The commission will also seek to determine how these financial transactions were deemed in the charities’ best interests.
It clarified that no conclusions have yet been reached and the opening of an inquiry does not equate to wrongdoing found.
Civil Society has attempted to contact all of the other charities added to the investigation.
