# Charity Commission redistributes £196,000 in funds “likely to have been used as non-charitable expenditure”

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/12/15/charity-commission-redistributes-196000-in-funds-likely-to-have-been-used-as-non-charitable-expenditure/
- Published: 2020-12-15T16:28:11+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Earlier today the Charity Commission announced it was redistributing almost £200,000
from a pair who had raised the money but could not show how all funds were used.**

 

Mr Mohammed Hasnath and Ms Ruksana Ali operated two online fundraising platforms,
claiming to be raising money for Rohingya refugees. Whilst they never registered
the fund as a charity, its stated purpose made it charitable under the law.

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In 2018, the Commission uncovered the fund and that its trustees were asking for
donations to their personal bank accounts. Information on the platforms showed over
£200,000 had been donated to the fund.

 

Today, the Commission [reported the outcome](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-funds-raised-for-the-prevention-and-relief-of-poverty-of-rohingya-refugees/charity-inquiry-a-fund-raised-for-the-charitable-purpose-of-the-prevention-and-relief-of-poverty-of-rohingya-refugees)
of its statutory inquiry into the case, finding:

 

 * there were no governance or financial controls in place to protect and apply 
   the funds raised
 * funds had been transferred into six personal bank accounts and a PayPal account,
   mixing it with personal money already in these accounts
 * £68,748.81 of charitable funds could not be properly accounted for and was likely
   to have been used as non-charitable private expenditure by the former trustees
 * there was insufficient evidence of activity by the charitable fund.

 

The Commission has removed both trustees from the fund and disqualified them from
acting as trustees or holding a senior management function at a charity.

 

> Steve Roake, Head of Compliance, Visits and Inspections at the Charity Commission,
> said: “Charities exist to improve lives and strengthen society, so it is vital
> that trustees fulfil their responsibility to act in the best interests of their
> charity at all times. Instead, this inquiry uncovered misconduct by these trustees
> who likely allowed funds to go astray and demonstrated a disregard for the standards
> and behaviours expected of them. It’s right we’ve removed these individuals from
> acting as trustees.”
> “We’re glad we’ve been able to use our powers to protect the remaining funds and
> ensure this money has now safely reached the cause for which it was intended.”

 

The Commission has transferred the remaining £196,528.58 raised by the fund to two
registered charities that support Rohingya refugees.

 

**MORE:**

 

 * **[Charity Commission unveils new version of online charity register (4 September 2020)](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/09/04/charity-commission-unveils-new-version-of-online-charity-register/)**
 * **[Charities with inactive funds called to join Revitalising Trusts programme (1 September 2020)](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/09/01/charities-with-inactive-funds-called-to-join-revitalising-trusts-programme/)**
 * **[Charity Commission withdraws criticised Covid-19 guidance (16 March 2020)](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/03/16/charity-commission-withdraws-criticised-covid-19-guidance/)**