Orthodox charity accused of ‘mismanagement’ accounts for £1.9m hole

Trustees of an Orthodox Jewish charity have finally accounted for £1.9 million after being accused of “mismanagement and misconduct” during a four-year statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission.

The Chesed Leyisruel Trust, which was only registered in 2011, last year got a final warning from the government watchdog after trustees repeatedly failed to file their annual documents, with investigations beginning in 2013.

The Commission had to use its statutory powers to order copies of the charity’s bank account records to locate more than £1.9 million in assets of the charity, which aims to “relieve poverty amongst persons in need and hardship”.

Only this year did trustees of Chesed Leyrisruel submit records for 2014-15, and the Commission was not impressed by a trustee’s explanation that “delays were incurred during preparation of the accounts,” saying: “This does not excuse the failure of the trustees to fulfil their statutory obligations.”

The Commission added that the charity’s failure to file their returns amounted to trustees’ “mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity and a breach of their legal duties”.

However, last week the Commission said two sets of accounts had now been filed. “As a result £1,902,241 of charitable income is now transparently and publicly accounted for on the register… The charity ceased to be part of the inquiry when it was no longer in default of its accounting obligations.”

The charity’s three listed trustees include Eli and Nechamah Goldberg, based in Salford, who are separately listed as electrical contractors.