Charity with far-right links dissolved - inquiry

The Charity Commission "significant" financial mismanagement at the charity

A charity is going to be dissolved after a statutory inquiry found "significant" financial mismanagement, as well as social media posts linked to the leader of a far-right political group.

The Charity Commission recovered almost £150,000 from The Saint George Educational Trust after it found the Hampshire-based charity's bank account was being used as a conduit for money from unknown sources, and that it was wrongly claiming Gift Aid on it.

The Commission has removed the trustees and appointed interim managers.

They will settle outstanding debts and redistribute any remaining charitable funds to a charity with similar charitable purposes, before winding up the organisation.

The Saint George Educational Trust was registered in 1994 to carry out activities advancing the Catholic religion and education about the faith.

An inquiry into the charity was opened in October 2022.

It found the charity's chair had allowed its bank account to receive donations from unknown sources, which were then transferred to entities unknown to the trustees - who then claimed more than £80,000 in Gift Aid on the donations from HMRC.

'Flagrant abuse'

The inquiry also discovered more than £30,000 of charity assets had been converted into gold bullion, held by individuals with no formal connection to the charity.

In addition, the Commission found the charity's website and social media accounts contained content linked to far-right activities and a post likely to be interpreted as support for Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organisation by many nations including the UK.

Charity Commission Chief Executive, David Holdsworth, said: "This was a flagrant abuse of charity and a betrayal of the public's trust.

"The commission's actions during this ongoing inquiry mean that all the public money falsely claimed from HMRC has been repaid and we have ensured that the trustees can't run a charity again."

He added that deliberate abuse of charity was "rare".