Home secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of failing to formally disclose links to a charity that trained lawyers in Rwanda.
Braverman co-founded the Africa Justice Foundation (AJF) in 2010 and used to chair the charity, which trained lawyers in sub-Saharan African countries.
The Independent reported this week that Braverman did not formally disclose her links to the charity when she was appointed home secretary last year.
According to the Independent, “several people the charity worked with are now key members of president Paul Kagame’s government and are involved in the UK’s £140m deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda”.
The newspaper reported that one former minister told it that the home secretary “never mentioned” her work with the charity.
According to the ministerial code, “ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests”.
History of Africa Justice Foundation
Braverman co-founded the charity with fellow barristers Cherie Blair and Philip Riches.
She was director of AJF until she resigned on 17 March 2015, according to Companies House records.
Braverman became an MP a few weeks afterwards on 7 May 2015.
Shortly after Braverman’s departure, the charity was removed from the Charity Commission’s register. It was dissolved as a company in 2018.
AJF’s final financial accounts ending June 2015 show an income of £11,000 and expenditure of £29,000.
The Home Office declined to comment on the allegation that Braverman failed to formally disclose links to the charity.
Instead, a spokesperson for the department told Civil Society: “Our thorough assessment of Rwanda found that it is a safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers, and the court recently upheld this and found that our policy is lawful.”
Several charities have written to the government opposing the Rwanda immigration policy.
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