A charity that failed to hold elections for trustees over three years has been criticised by the Charity Commission.

Its probe also found that former trustees at Staffordshire based Jamia Hanfia Ghosia Mosque and Princess Street Resource Centre had refused applications for membership, which is needed to vote in elections, “without good reason”.

According to the regulator’s investigation the board failed to hold elections for trustees from 2019 to 2021.

While the regulator accepts that the Covid pandemic had been an obstacle to elections and holding an AGM in 2020, this does not account for the other years.

The elections were also held up amid a dispute over membership eligibility.

“The former trustees refused to accept membership applications from the community without a valid basis, so were not acting in the best interests of the charity,” said the regulator.

When elections were finally held in June 2022 an entirely new board was put in place. None of its former trustees were elected.

This election was held following the issuing of a legal order by the regulator the previous month to ensure it holds “a free and fair election” for its board.

The Charity Commission notes the former trustees had failed to follow its written advice on elections, which had been offered “on several occasions”.

In addition, they had “disrupted a process” to hold elections and ensure the charity had an up to date membership list, which was being carried out by independent election specialist Popularis.

The charity’s new board has been issued with formal regulatory advice and guidance three times from December 2022 to April this year. It is in the process of changing its structure from the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and transferring its assets to a new corporate body.

“The regulator expects the trustees to follow this guidance and act in the best interests of the charity,” said the Commission, which adds it is “satisfied that the current trustees understand their duties as trustees and are capable of effectively managing the charity”.

It adds that it found no evidence to support concerns around unauthorised payments to former trustees.

“We expect all trustees to act in the best interests of their charity and in accordance with their legal duties and we will take appropriate action where trustees fail to do so,” said the Commission’s head of investigations Amy Spiller.

“In this case, we found the former trustees failed, during a significant period of time, to ensure those entitled to membership of the charity had the opportunity to vote in regular trustee elections. They failed to act in the charity’s best interests, so let down the charity and its members.”

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