Hampshire educational trustees banned due to financial mismanagement

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

It comes after the inquiry was first 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”. 

Based in Hampshire, The Saint George Educational Trust was registered in 1994 to carry out activities that advance the Catholic religion and education about the faith. 

However, during the regulator’s inquiry, it 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 in the sum of £80k on these funds.

Some charitable assets were also being held in £30k worth of gold bullion by individuals unconnected to the charity.  

These claims were later disallowed by HMRC, and the Commission recovered the total sum of £146,166 – including interest and a penalty – from the charity. 

What’s more, 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 support for Islamist terrorist organisation Hezbollah. 

As a result, the regulator 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. 

David Holdsworth, chief executive of the Charity Commission, 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.”  

Joshua Farbridge, head of compliance visits and inspections at the Charity Commission, added: “I have no doubt that the public will be shocked by the inquiry’s findings. The charity was used to promote inappropriate and harmful views, express support for a proscribed terrorist organisation, and to make improper Gift Aid claims. 

“While what transpired may seem more suited to fiction, this is, regrettably, all too real. The Commission has acted to protect the charity’s remaining assets, and the Interim Managers will work towards winding up and dissolving it.”