The Charity Commission has begun a major statutory inquiry into several Orthodox charities over allegations of financial impropriety.
The regulator confirmed that ten charities are under formal investigation – at least eight of which are Jewish – following a discovery by HMRC that 105 UK-based charities had cashed cheques totalling £22 million over a 15-month period.
HMRC recently made an unannounced visit to a company in Hackney that had received the cheques between December 2021 and March 2023, the Charity Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Commission chose to investigate the ten charities from among the broader group of 105 because of “evidence that they are issuing or have issued cheques, which are then exchanged for cash”, it said.
Of those ten, three of the charities donate to private Orthodox schools.
The Commission said it had “serious concerns” about how funds were handled, and that it had given the charities “an immediate order to temporarily stop ... issuing cheques without prior consent”.
The charities included in the initial inquiry are Inspirations; Beis Aharon Charitable Trust Limited; Mifal Hachesed Vehatzedokoh; Friends of Beis Soroh Schneirer; One Heart – Lev Echod; Yad Vochessed Association Limited; Friends of Beis Chinuch Lebonos Trust; Chasdei Dov Trust; Friends of Mercaz Hatorah Belz Macnivka; and The Rehabilitation Trust.
The Jewish charities state that their aims include advancing Orthodox Judaism, education and poverty relief. Several are Charedi schools based in Stamford Hill.
The Charity Commission said: “These organisations were prioritised based on the volume and value of cheques involved. The number of charities under investigation is expected to increase as the inquiry progresses.”
Trustees will be investigated as part of the probe, which will look at “how trustees had oversight of what happened to funds exchanged for the cheques, and if this cash has been used properly to support what the charities were set up to do.
“The Commission will seek to establish how trustees determined that these financial transactions were in their charity’s best interests,” it said in Wednesday’s announcement. “The inquiry will establish the facts around how these funds were handled and whether the trustees fulfilled their legal duties.”
