Charity regulator opens inquiry into Kamyabi
Concerns over management of Nottingham-based charity prompts inquiry
The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the women’s charity Kamyabi (1125243) due to serious concerns that trustees are failing to operate the charity for the public benefit. The inquiry was opened on 20 November 2019.
The charity exists primarily to help Asian women living in Nottinghamshire in a number of ways, including through the advancement of education and relief of poverty.
However, when the Commission met with the charity in September 2019, its main activity appeared to be the recycling of clothes. Analysis of the charity’s financial accounts found several payments titled “stock” and related party transactions to two clothes recycling companies owned by two trustees of the charity. It is unclear how this is in furtherance of the charity’s objects, raising serious concerns over the trustees’ administration and financial management of the charity.
The Commission has obtained copies of the charity’s bank statements and found discrepancies between funds held and the charitable expenditure and income declared in the charity’s annual return. The Commission is also concerned that the sole signatory on the charity’s bank accounts is not a trustee and that the charity is in default of it’s statutory filing obligations.
The inquiry will examine how the charity is meeting its charitable purposes, and:
- whether the charity’s bank account is used for private business;
- the charity’s transactions with the trustees and companies related to the trustees and;
- the trustees’ management and administration of the charity in accordance with its governing document and charity law.
It is the Commission’s 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. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on [GOV.UK]https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/inquiry-reports-charity-commission).
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Notes to Editors
- The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
- Search for charities on our check charity tool.
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