The Charity Commission has removed the charity Urban Relief from its register, after opening an inquiry following the conviction of one of its trustees for a number of offences, including managing a brothel, concealing criminal property and using the charity’s bank account to launder funds from the proceeds of crime
The charity had objects to relieve poverty and financial hardship among West African people by providing food, clothing, housing and other services.
In January 2015 Francis Uwagbae, who was one of the trustees of the London-based charity, was jailed for 10 months for the ‘management of a brothel and concealing criminal property’ at Blackfriars Crown Court.
The Commission undertook scrutiny of the charity’s bank accounts and conducted further enquiries, including attempting to meet all the trustees. Although the inquiry’s analysis of the bank account records indicates that the charity did receive and spend funds, the inquiry saw no evidence that those funds were obtained or applied in furtherance of its objects.
Both the convicted trustee and his wife (also a trustee) failed to cooperate with the inquiry despite being ordered to do so by the Commission. The Commission found that two of the four charity trustees were unaware that their names had been declared to the Commission, and had not seen either of the other trustees for some time.
The Commission also visited a community hall in West Ham which had been listed as the base for the charity’s activities since 2006, to establish what activities, if any, the charity had undertaken. It was established through the centre manager that the charity had ceased using the premises in 2014. The centre manager was unable to confirm what, if any, activities the charity had undertaken at the premises.
The inquiry concluded that the trustees were responsible for mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity due to a persistent failure to comply with the Commission’s orders and directions. The Commission removed the charity from the register on 21 November 2016.
Carl Mehta, head of investigations, enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: ‘The trustees in this case failed to abide by even the basic duties of trustees and failed to cooperate with our investigation. This charity has now been removed from the register of charities and the trustee involved was held to account by the criminal justice system.’
The Charity Commission Urban Relief: Inquiry report is here
