The Charity Commission has opened statutory inquiries into two military charities, including 1st Knight Military Charity, which was criticised in a BBC documentary this week.
On Tuesday night BBC Scotland aired a documentary which showed a charity shop, run by 1st Knight Military Charity, selling anti-islamic merchandise.
Following the documentary, the Commission has opened a statutory inquiry.
In a statement the Commission said: “The inquiry was opened on 8th November in response to regulatory concerns identified from publicised footage of the BBC documentary, ‘The Great Military Charity Scandal’, in which the charity features, and items shown to the Commission by the BBC that were obtained as part of its investigation.
“The trustees of the charity have been notified and the Commission will issue a public statement about the inquiry in due course.”
1st Knight Military told the BBC that the merchandise has been removed from its store.
Inquiry into Our Local Heroes
The Commission has also opened an inquiry into Our Local Heroes, which had previously been criticised for signing a contract with a fundraising agency which allowed the company to keep 80 per cent of funds raised.
In March the Commission decided not to open a statutory inquiry because the charity’s agreement with Targeted Management Ltd “did not bring them within the regulations that cover commercial participators and fundraisers”.
It said it had found the trustees to be “open and responsible” and issued the charity with an action plan.
But in October the Commission opened a statutory inquiry after receiving new information in June about plans to sell some of the charity’s land, which “raised concerns that the land had been undervalued and could potentially be sold to a connected party”.
It has also concluded that the charity has not complied with the action plan.
The Commission said the inquiry will look at the lease arrangements between the charity and third parties, to what extent the charity has complied with the action plan and whether anyone has used the charity for personal or unauthorised benefit.
Earlier this week the Commission and Fundraising Regulator issued an alert reminding trustees of their duties when it comes to monitoring relationships with third parties.
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