Tag: Charity Commission

The press release issued by the Charity Commission on 13 January 2023.

An investigation into a homeless charity has found evidence of serious financial mismanagement, and evidence that the charity’s funds were used to benefit the charity’s former CEO and former trustees.

The Ashley Foundation was registered as a charity in 1997 and operates hostels and flats for homeless people in Blackpool, Sunderland and Blackburn.

The inquiry finds that the former trustees sold off several of the charity’s properties housing vulnerable homeless people, before entering into highly disadvantageous agreements with a third party to manage those same properties. In one instance, former trustee Ashley Dribben personally received £40,000 for his involvement in the transaction.

The inquiry also identified significant personal benefit, including the use of thousands of pounds of charity funds on the repair and upkeep of personal properties belonging to former CEO Lee Dribben and his son Ashley.

The inquiry further found that Lee Dribben used charity expenses on luxury travel and meals, including over £3000 on a three-night trip to London, with first class travel and meals at Le Caprice and the Wolseley Hotel. On the same trip, £45 was claimed for a bottle of wine at a restaurant in Covent Garden.

Charity money was also inappropriately spent on luxury items including Apple Watches, flat screen TVs and silk sheets, which the former CEO claimed were gifts for associates.

On one occasion, Lee Dribben used the charity’s funds to purchase a Spymaster tracking system, which the inquiry was told was used to surveil individuals during contract negotiations with the charity. The report notes that the inquiry did not accept this was appropriate use of the charity’s funds, and that “covert activity is unacceptable” for a charity.

The regulator’s report stresses that the charity’s current trustees have taken action to rectify governance problems, including in successfully re-acquiring the sold properties and terminating the agreements. The Commission is now satisfied the appropriate controls are in place to safeguard the charity’s assets moving forward.

The Commission concluded that there was serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of The Ashley Foundation, and took action to disqualify Lee Dribben and Ashley Dribben from charity trusteeships and senior management for 15 years, and former chair of the charity, David Kam, for 10 years.

The Commission also used its powers to safeguard the charity’s assets, by freezing bank accounts and preventing further sale of property. The inquiry referred its concerns about potential criminality to Lancashire police.

Amy Spiller, Head of Investigations at the Commission, said:

Our investigation found that the former trustees and CEO misused this charity and received significant unauthorised personal benefit from funds intended to help vulnerable homeless people.

Trustees must use their charity’s funds to further the charity’s purposes and ensure there are robust financial and controls in place to stop the abuse of these funds.

I commend the current board of trustees for identifying the serious wrongdoing and initiating action to put the charity’s house in order. I hope that their work, and our intervention, means the charity is now able to deliver on its charitable purposes to help the homeless across Blackpool, Sunderland and Blackburn.

The press release issued by the Charity Commission on 22 November 2022.

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the Islamic Centre of England Limited over serious governance concerns.

The charity is based in London and its charitable purposes include advancing the religion of Islam and education and welfare among the Muslim community.

The regulator’s decision follows extensive engagement with the charity over recent years, which has included issuing the charity with an Official Warning. The Warning followed two events held at the charity’s premises in 2020 that eulogised Major General Qasem Soleimani who is subject to UK sanctions.

A follow-up case in 2021 concluded that the charity was only partially compliant with the actions set out in the Official Warning and identified further regulatory concerns. These included concerns about the content of the charity’s website and the trustees’ management of conflicts of interest, and led to the Commission issuing an Action Plan.

The Commission has identified that the trustees have failed to fully comply with the Action Plan and Official Warning and a number of further regulatory concerns also remain.

The Commission has therefore opened a statutory inquiry into the charity, which will examine:

1. The extent to which the trustees have properly exercised their legal duties and responsibilities under charity law, in particular regarding the charity’s website and events.
2. Whether the trustees are willing, and able, to further the charity’s objects in accordance its Governing Document.
3. The governance and administration of the charity by the trustees, including the identification and management of conflicts of interest and/or loyalty.

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.