The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to a charity after its founder, Vladimir Potanin, was sanctioned by the UK government.
The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the Potanin Foundation on 29 June due to its position that individuals subject to UK financial sanctions cannot control a charity.
It has now announced that as part of the inquiry it appointed Guy Hollander of Mazars LLP as interim manager of the charity on 12 July, to the exclusion of the trustees.
Hollander has taken over the management and administration of the charity and will fulfil a number of tasks, including managing the charity’s assets and assessing its future viability.
Interim managers are appointed where the Commission has identified misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of a charity, or where there is a need to protect a charity’s property.
The charity carries out its objectives by awarding grants principally to support its sister charity in Russia, the Vladimir Potanin Foundation.
Potanin is the charity’s only member and has controlling rights, including trustee appointment and removal, the Commission previously revealed.
According to the charity’s most recently filed accounts, it has assets in excess of £95m. The objectives of the charity are to develop education and culture in Russia.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office previously described oligarch Vladimir Potanin as “Russia’s second richest man and key supporter of the Kremlin”.
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