The Charity Commission has banned trustees of The Saint George Educational Trust after a statutory inquiry found "significant" financial mismanagement.

Mismanagement included holding charitable assets as gold bullion by individuals unconnected to the charity.

The charity, which is based in Hampshire, was registered in 1994 to carry out activities that advance the Catholic religion and education about the faith.  

However, during the regulator's inquiry, the regulator discovered that the charity’s bank account was being used as a conduit for money from unknown sources, and the charity was wrongly claiming Gift Aid on these funds.

The charity’s website and social media were also found to have posted content linked to the leader of a far-right political group, not in furtherance of its charitable purposes, as well as an Islamist terrorist organisation. 

The inquiry was opened in October 2022 after the regulator identified concerns that the charity was engaging in activities, including online content, that did not appear to further its religious purposes.

The inquiry found a number of other "significant" governance failings, financial mismanagement, and unacceptable political activity at the charity.

Following the opening of its inquiry, the Commission took action to freeze over half a million pounds of the charity’s funds and ensure inappropriate content was removed from the charity’s website and social media.  

The regulator also removed the trustees from the charity and has appointed interim managers, who will settle outstanding debts and redistribute any remaining charitable funds to a charity with similar charitable purposes before winding up the organisation. 

With the assistance of the police, gold bullion was recovered and sold, which enabled the Commission to make orders to the police and bank, which held funds on behalf of the charity, and to repay HMRC £146,166.14 for Gift Aid wrongly obtained by the charity.

The trustees are now disqualified from serving as trustees or holding any position with senior management function in relation to any charity in England and Wales. 

Charity Commission chief executive, David Holdsworth, said:  "The generous British public can be reassured that deliberate abuse of charity is rare and as this case shows when it does occur, we act swiftly and robustly.   

"This was a flagrant abuse of charity and a betrayal of the public’s trust. The Commission’s actions during this ongoing inquiry mean that all the public money falsely claimed from HMRC has been repaid and we have ensured that the trustees can’t run a charity again."

 

---