Beckenham church flagged for misconduct over £948k property loan

A Christian outreach centre in Beckenham has been pulled up for misconduct by the Charity Commission over a £948,450 unsecured loan made to a property developer for a build in Dubai

The Citygate Christian Outreach Centre is a registered charity set up in 2005 to promote the advancement of the Christian religion, and has annual income of £1.64m raised primarily from donations and legacies.

The inquiry into misconduct was launched by the regulator in 2021 when the charity missed filing deadlines for two years of accounts.

The charity was placed into the Charity Commission’s double defaulter class inquiry in March 2021 as it failed to submit its annual report, accounts and return as required for the financial year ending 31 March 2020. Accounting information for FY 2019 was submitted just before the inquiry opened, on 21 March 2021.

Both sets of accounts included ‘qualified opinions’ from an independent auditor relating to significant unsecured loans to an individual, a property developer, who was not connected to the charity.

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