A charity has been removed from the register and its trustees have been disqualified after management failings put the charity at risk of associations with terrorism.

A Charity Commission investigation into Aid Convoy found trustees mishandled donations and could not account for around £2.8m worth of goods shipped to Syria.

Two separate inquiries found the charity's trustees had failed legal duties by keeping 'inappropriate relationships' after a charity representative was deprived of UK citizenship over connections to a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Two former trustees of the charity have been disqualified from trusteeship and senior management functions for a period of 8 years.

The regulator first launched an inquiry into Aid Convoy in 2013 after the charity failed to account for half of its spending, and the charity’s cash was seized by police at UK borders.

Serious concerns about the charity’s financial management were raised during the inquiry and the regulator took action to freeze the charity’s bank account.

Further probes found severe weaknesses in the charity’s processes for ensuring monies and goods went to the people the charity was set up to help.

The regulator issued an order in 2016 directing the then trustees to take steps to improve the charity’s governance and financial management, but a second inquiry was opened in 2018 after the charity’s then trustees failed to comply.

The second inquiry found the charity was handling donations of controlled substances, including morphine, without the required licence.

These were collected in appeals for shipments to Syria but the trustees claimed they did not know what was included in containers and could not account for the end use of donations or be sure that they did not fall into the hands of terrorist organisations.

The regulator said its concerns were further exacerbated when a former representative of the charity was deprived of his UK citizenship having been “aligned to an Al-Qaida aligned group”. When told to review the charity’s relationship with this individual the trustees told the Commission “this is not a decision we are willing to rush into”.

Interim manager appointed to take over charity

An interim manager had been appointed to safeguard the charity's assets and to review its future, but due to a lack of cooperation from trustees, he concluded it had 'no viable future'.

The interim manager transferred the remaining assets, including £12,218 of charitable funds, to another charity before winding the charity up.

Aid Convoy was subsequently removed from the register of Charities on 12 June 2020.

The two trustees, Mr Muhammed Abdul Mumin and Mr Asim Shafaq, were also disqualified for a period of 8 years from being a charity trustee as a senior manager of any charity in England and Wales.

Charity Commission assistant director of inquiries and investigations, Tim Hopkins said: "The action we have taken here, on behalf of the public, has protected the charity sector from further harm and held the responsible individuals to account. But this case highlights the damaging effects of trustees failing to properly safeguard or protect a charity from associations with terrorism.

"Ultimately the trustees did not honour the trust donors placed in them by giving generously to help people affected by the crisis in Syria.

"Good governance is not a bureaucratic detail – it underpins the delivery of a charity’s purpose to the high standards required under charity law and which the public rightly expect. The trustees failed to live up to those standards, committing repeated acts of mismanagement and misconduct, and aligning the charity to individuals whose past conduct posed a threat to their charity."

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