The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Dudley Central Mosque and Muslim Community Centre after it failed to file its accounts for four consecutive years.
Its last annual accounts filed with the regulator were for the financial year ending 31 March 2017.
The Commission said these failings are “symptomatic of wider administration and governance issues that persist at the charity” despite the regulator’s efforts to guide it. The charity was part of the Commission’s “double defaulters” class inquiry in March.
Previous investigations into charity
Dudley Central Mosque has been subject to three regulatory compliance cases in the past four years, which examined an ongoing dispute between two groups that represent it.
The Commission issued formal advice to the charity to seek legal guidance to establish official trustees. According to the regulator’s website, there are seven trustees that were appointed in January 2020 with no other trusteeships on record.
It asked the two sides of the dispute to mediate and hold an election overseen by an independent committee. Though an election took place, one side disputed how independent the election was and governance issues at the charity remain.
The statutory inquiry will examine whether the charity is being managed in accordance with its governing document and why it has failed to comply with legal obligations like filing accounts and annual returns. The scope of the inquiry may change if additional issues emerge.
‘We welcome the involvement of the Charity Commission’
A spokesperson from the charity told Civil Society News: “We welcome the involvement of the Charity Commission. I think it's a great way to finally get this get this sorted. It’s a shame that it’s come to that, but it turned out to be the last resort and there was no other option so we welcome that. We're really supportive of it.
“We are looking to work with the old trustees and hoping to finally get this in order so we can move forward.”
Related articles
