The Charity Commission has disqualified a former trustee of an education charity after finding he was engaging in extremist activity.
During a statutory inquiry into Charr Yarr Welfare Foundation Limited, investigators found videos of one of the charity’s former trustees Zulfiqar Mashadi inciting religious violence and advocating the murder of blasphemers.
In a YouTube video, Mashadi was seen to be praising Mumtaz Qadri, who murdered former governer of Punjab Salmaan Taseer and was convicted under Pakistan’s terrorism legislation.
The Commission said it considers Mashadi’s statements to be extremist and fostering hatred and had disqualified him from being a charity trustee for five years.
During the inquiry, Mashadi said his message had always been to “express peace and harmony”, which the regulator found incongruous with the speeches he had made.
Missing receipts
The Yorkshire-based charity was set up to promote education and relief of poverty and provide funds to a linked charity in Pakistan.
In November 2018, the Commission inspected the charity’s premises and was concerned that Mashadi, the sole trustee present, was unable to sufficiently answer all of its questions.
The Commission also noted that the charity had not filed its accounts for the financial years 2016 and 2017 on time.
In 2019, the regulator issued Mashadi and his two fellow trustees with an action plan to address these concerns, to which it said they did not respond.
In January 2020, the Commission issued the charity with an official warning and it opened a statutory inquiry into the charity four months later.
During the inquiry, the charity’s two other former trustees, Maryam Mosvi and Azka Mashadi, were also disqualified from being trustees for two and a half years due to findings of mismanagement.
The inquiry found the charity’s former trustees had accepted large donations and interest-free loans without conducting any due diligence or maintaining records correctly.
For its accounts ending August 2016, the charity was unable to provide receipts for more than £27,000 that had been transferred to Pakistan.
Former trustees were also unable to explain why £1,400 of the charity’s funds had been transferred to Zulfiqar Mashadi. The funds were repaid to the charity as a result of the inquiry.
Charity Commission: ‘Entirely unfit to act as a trustee’
The charity is now operating with three trustees that have been on the charity’s board since 2020 and have been issued with guidance and advice by the regulator.
Joshua Farbridge, head of compliance visits and inspections at the Commission, said: “Mr Z Mashadi’s conduct made him entirely unfit to act as a trustee for a charity.
“We are very clear that where we uncover wrongdoing that harms an individual charity and diminishes the reputation of charity, we will be robust and tenacious in using our powers to secure the right outcomes to protect beneficiaries, charitable resources, staff, and donors.
“Encouragingly, the current trustees of the Charr Yarr Welfare Foundation have shown a willingness to take onboard regulatory advice and guidance provided by the Commission, and we continue to engage with them as is necessary.”
Charr Yarr Welfare Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
