{"id":59904,"date":"2015-08-03T09:43:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T09:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=6402d8d84b1a0a1551dbc3ed01812855"},"modified":"2015-08-03T09:43:57","modified_gmt":"2015-08-03T09:43:57","slug":"press-release-new-charity-investigation-the-reb-moishe-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=59904","title":{"rendered":"Press release: New charity investigation: The Reb Moishe Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/apps.charitycommission.gov.uk\/Showcharity\/RegisterOfCharities\/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1106737&amp;SubsidiaryNumber=0\">The Reb Moishe Foundation (charity registration number 1106737)<\/a>. The charity is based in North London and has general charitable objects.<\/p>\n<p>The commission had been engaging with the charity as part of an operational compliance case since December 2014, when HMRC raised concerns about a \u00a32 million loan facility made in 2006 by the charity to a company, which the charity\u2019s current sole trustee is now a director. The charity\u2019s accounts for December 2013 show \u00a32,326,401 is owed to the charity by the company.<\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s compliance case uncovered other concerns in connection with the loan, including that the company to which the loan was made is reportedly running at a significant deficit and that the interest payable to the charity on the loan has also been reduced. The commission is also concerned about an apparent lack of charitable expenditure, contradictory information provided in the charity\u2019s accounts, and the fact that the trustee board is currently inquorate.<\/p>\n<p>Given these concerns the commission opened a statutory inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>The issues the inquiry is examining include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>loans made by the charity and whether these were in furtherance of the charity\u2019s objects<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>trustee(s) decision making in connection with the loan to a connected company, and whether the trustee(s) acted in the charity\u2019s best interests<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>whether the trustee(s) received unauthorised private benefits and whether conflicts of interest have been properly managed<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>whether the trustees(s) have complied with legal duties in relation to management and control of the administration of the charity<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since opening its inquiry, the commission has used its legal power to direct the charity\u2019s trustee to take certain immediate steps in connection with the outstanding loan and to direct the charity\u2019s accountant to provide information.<\/p>\n<p>The inquiry was opened on 1 May 2015; the commission has been unable to make the inquiry public until now, due to the involvement of another agency.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator stresses that opening an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing. The purpose of an inquiry is to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether or not there has been misconduct or mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity\u2019s property, beneficiaries or work; decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.<\/p>\n<p>It is the commission\u2019s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/charity-commission-reports-decisions-alerts-and-statements\">Reports of previous inquiries<\/a> by the commission are available on GOV.UK. <\/p>\n<p>The <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/apps.charitycommission.gov.uk\/Showcharity\/RegisterOfCharities\/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1106737&amp;SubsidiaryNumber=0\">charity\u2019s details can be viewed<\/a> on the commission\u2019s online charity search tool.<\/p>\n<p>Ends<\/p>\n<p>PR 48\/15<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.uk\/charity-commission\">The Charity Commission<\/a> is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, acting in the public\u2019s interest, to ensure that: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>charities know what they have to do<\/li>\n<li>the public know what charities do<\/li>\n<li>charities are held to account<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of protective and remedial powers. Section 84 of the Act is a power to direct charity trustees to take action specified by the commission which is considered expedient in the interests of the charity.    <\/li>\n<li>The commission\u2019s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p>Read more information on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/statements-on-live-cases-charity-commission\">the commission\u2019s policy and factors taken into account when deciding to issue a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_2196\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Press office<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:pressenquiries@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk\">pressenquiries@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries &#8211; office hours<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 065 2123\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries &#8211; out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              07785 748787\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into The Reb Moishe Foundation, registered charity number 1106737.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}