The Charity Commission has decided that a trustee of a charity breached its legal duties to protect the charity’s assets, by using the charity as a conduit to commit immigration fraud.
The trustee in charge of the Khalsa Missionary Society has been permanently removed from the board and been barred from becoming involved with charities in the future.
In August 2013, the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team (HOIE) informed the Charity Commission that a criminal investigation had been launched into the charity, after suspicions that it was being abused to allow illegal entry of Indian nationals into the UK for a fee.
The Commission assisted the HOIE investigation by sharing information and opened a statutory inquiry in September 2014 to examine whether there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity.
The Commission’s inquiry found that there was only one active trustee in the charity – as a result of its concerns, the Commission removed this individual as a trustee in January 2016.
At Manchester Crown Court, the individual pleaded guilty to three counts of assisting unlawful immigration between 2011 and 2013 – and on 16 May 2016, the former trustee was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment.
The Commission’s inquiry concluded that the trustee used the charity to facilitate immigration fraud by sponsoring individuals as ministers for religion, while funds were circulated through the charity’s bank accounts to give the appearance that the charity was receiving legitimate donations.
The inquiry concluded that there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity, in that the trustee had breached legal duties to protect the charity’s assets by using the charity as a conduit to commit immigration fraud.
The regulator also concluded that the trustee had potentially providing false and misleading information to the Commission.
The Commission removed the charity from the register in February 2016, as it no longer operated.
Head of Investigations and Enforcement, Carl Mehta, said:
“We work closely with law enforcement agencies to prevent and disrupt abuse of charities.
“In this case, we were able to share information with the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team and support the successful prosecution of an individual who was benefiting from this disgraceful abuse of charitable status.”
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