The Charity Commission has today concluded that the trustees of 12 charities under investigation for late filing of accounts were responsible for misconduct and in breach of their legal duties.

The Commission had been investigating all 12 charities as part of a statutory inquiry into "double defaulting" charities  those which have not filed accounts in two of the last five years.

But it has now removed all 12 charities now as they have submitted the missing documents.

The first phase of the Charity Commission’s inquiry into double defaulting charities looked at those with an income of over £500,000 and began on 20 September 2013. The second phase began on 11 November 2013, looking at charities with a last known income of between £250,000 and £500,000.

In April the Commission warned that 72 charities would face a statutory inquiry if they did not file their accounts. It has now said that 20 charities currently remain in the class inquiry. 

The Commission said in a statement accompanying the inquiry reports that there “no valid reason for late accounts”.

It concluded that the charities’ trustees were “in default of their legal obligations to file accounting information with the Commission and this was mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity and a breach of trustees' legal duties”.

Michelle Russell (pictured), head of investigations and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: “Some of the charities in the class inquiry have stopped giving excuses for defaulting on their accounts and we hope this means that our message is getting through - there is no valid reason for late accounts.

“But we also hope that trustees have heard the message from the public that what drives their trust most is that charities ensure that a reasonable proportion of donations gets to the end cause - charity accounts are a key way for charities show how they have spent their money and to build trust in the charity.”

The 12 charities under investigation as a result of double defaulting were:

• Chevras Machzikei Mesifta
•  Patanjali Yog Peeth (UK) Trust
• The Hope Trust (Yorkshire) 
• The St Thomas Lupus Trust 
• Vyoel Moshe Charitable Trust 
• The British School, Tehran 
• Bridgegate Drugs Advice Service 
• Beis Aharon Trust Ltd 
• Al-Hassan Education Centre 
• Belgrave Baheno Peepul Centre 
• Bfon Trust
• Morris Cerullo World Evangelism

Some charities did give excuses for not filing accounts, these included: not having the password to log on to the Commission’s site, a trustee informing other trustees that the accounts had been transferred to an external film when they had not, and that as trustees worked on a voluntary basis they did not have the time.

The charities investigated had all received final warnings to comply by a specified date, and had all been still in default on the day after the specified date.