The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into an aid charity amid concerns that funds it sent to Yemen to tackle poverty are unaccounted for.

The regulator first opened a compliance case into Saba Relief and Development Foundation last year after receiving complaints regarding the use of charitable funds sent to the war torn country.

But this has been escalated to a statutory inquiry amid concerns from the Commission that trustees “have not adequately accounted for these funds”.

“There are also concerns around the charity’s due diligence processes regarding its work with partner organisations in Yemen,” said the regulator.

We’ve opened an inquiry into Saba Relief & Development Foundation Limited over concerns around charitable funds sent to Yemen.

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— Charity Commission (@ChtyCommission) August 15, 2024

Its inquiry will investigate whether the trustees have complied with their legal duties in relation to the charity’s governing document.

“Concerns over the end use of charitable funds, and the charity’s ability to evidence charitable expenditure in accordance with the trustees’ legal duties”, will also be looked at.

Another area of the probe is to investigate the “suitability of the charity’s partnerships, including the effectiveness of due diligence checks”.

According to the charities register the charity’s total income for the year ending December 2022 was £5.48m, which was entirely from donations and legacies. It’s spending was £5.66m over the same period.

It has five members of staff, four trustees and 73 volunteers.

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