The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into payments made to companies linked to the trustees of a charity set up to support disadvantaged children.
London based Asia Pacific Children's Fund was set up 15 years ago to support children in poverty, particularly in Asia. This includes funding an orphanage in Bangladesh.
But Commission investigators examining the charity’s bank statements found payments to firms linked to some of its trustees, which they “have been unable to sufficiently explain”, according to the regulator.
It also found that most of the charity’s money goes to fund the Bangladesh orphanage, but the Commission is concerned “that the trustees cannot fully account for all its expenditure” in this regard, “or clearly explain how the orphanage and the funds it receives are managed”.
The regulator says that these concerns “exacerbated by a lack of documentary evidence and the charity’s often late statutory returns, are evidence of misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity”.
We’ve opened an inquiry into Asia Pacific Childrens Fund over concerns about money spent overseas and payments to private companies linked to some of the charity’s trustees.
— Charity Commission (@ChtyCommission) May 12, 2023
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Being looked at in the investigation is the administration, governance and management of the charity, conflicts of interest, its financial controls and whether trustees are working within charity law.
The inquiry opened last month and follows two years of engagement with the charity by the Commission, which has includes a number of compliance visits.
According to the charity register the Fund’s include was £829,500 at the end of February 2022 and its total spending was £813,330. All its income comes from donations and legacies.
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