The Charity Commission has refuted criticism levelled at it by the Daily Mail, which questioned whether the regulator had taken strong enough action against a charity trustee shown making racist comments in an online video.
The Mail criticised the Commission’s decision to allow the trustee to remain at the charity.
However the Commission said its “powers to remove trustees from charities are currently limited”, and that that is why it has asked for new powers – as currently being debated before Parliament in the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill.
The article in the Mail focused on a video featuring a man who is said to be a trustee of the Ghulam Mustafa Trust, based in Rochdale, which aims to help flood victims in Pakistan, and works in medical camps.
The video features the individual taking apart a Samsung phone, while accusing Jews of “using secret microchips in Samsung smartphones to track users’ photographs”.
In a statement, a Commission spokesman said: “Earlier this year we engaged with the charity on this matter and made clear that the posting of the video on the charity's website was wholly inappropriate, and unacceptable for a trustee to do so. We raised concerns about whether the trustees had complied with their duties and brought the charity and its reputation into disrepute.
“We took immediate regulatory action in terms of requiring a number of steps to be taken regarding its Facebook account and we have an ongoing monitoring operation to check compliance with this.”
It added that "failure to comply with these steps could lead the Commission to take further action".
The Mail Online’s headline read “British charity trustee claims 'f***ing Jews' secretly track all Samsung smartphones in antisemitic video... but the Charity Commission has allowed him to remain in the post”, and suggested that “serious questions have been raised about the charity as well as the rigour of the Charity Commission”.
The identity of the man in the video remains unclear, but he is understood to be connected to the charity.
The Mail also said that “astonishingly, the man has been allowed to continue to run the organisation by the Charity Commission”.
The Commission said that the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill “will, for example, enable us to act where personal conduct affects fitness to be a trustee and it is in the public interest for us to act”.
The Commission said that its regulatory engagement with the charity continues.
In a statement Mohammed Yousaf, from the charity said that the Commission “made a fair decision” and that: “I am continuing with my work by helping the needy. Mistakes happen unfortunately it was with regret that this came to light on Facebook. Millions people swear and use obscene language against other religions. This type of action should not be repeated against any religion.”
