The Charity Commission has disqualified a “charity sector expert” and two other former trustees of a Bedfordshire-based international aid charity after a two-year investigation.
It found “serious failings” at the Quba Trust, which was registered in 2014 to alleviate poverty, provide disaster relief and promote the Islamic faith.
Among the failings, the regulator found that the former trustees were unable to account for more than £250,000 that was transferred overseas.
Dawood Masood received the longest ban, for 10 years, due to his position as a “sector expert”, who regularly performs independent examinations for other charities.
Affaf Amir and Masood Akthar Hazarvi were also disqualified from holding senior roles at a charity, for 7.5 years and 5.1 years, respectively.
According to its latest accounts for the year to January 2024, the charity’s total income was £4,440, while its total expenditure was £84,700.
Missing funds and unjustified spending
The regulator opened a statutory inquiry in May 2022 after its routine monitoring of the Quba Trust flagged serious concerns about the charity’s governance and financial management, including in relation to its international operations in Pakistan.
Quba Trust’s trustees at the time had also failed to act on regulatory advice and guidance issued by the commission to make improvements in how the charity was run and ensure it met legal obligations.
In its inquiry report, the regulator listed the failings by the charity’s trustees across a number of areas which amounted to misconduct or mismanagement.
These included a failure to comply with the charity’s governing document and a serious disregard for the importance of proper financial management and controls within the charity.
The regulator also found a failure to evidence end use of charitable funds transferred overseas and poor record keeping and payments to trustee personal and connected company accounts.
During the investigation, the commission found that the former trustees were unable to account for more than £259,000 that was transferred overseas, with a further £522,000 lacking a satisfactory audit trail.
The charity was also largely inactive during the investigation but spent more than £36,000 on a consultant, which the commission concluded was not in the charity’s best interests and constituted misconduct or mismanagement.
One of the trustees Dawood Masood also took a trip to Morocco following his resignation last year, the commission reported.
Although the trip was allegedly on behalf of the Quba Trust, it appeared to have been funded by money taken from the charity’s bank account, which had been paid directly to a non-charitable company of which Dawood Masood was the sole director.
The firm is not named in the report but Dawood Masood remains the sole director of Quba Accountancy, according to Companies House.
Routine monitoring flagged ‘serious concerns’
Given the extent of the failings, the regulator disqualified three former trustees in May 2024, for periods ranging between five and 10 years.
Dawood Masood received the longest disqualification as he is a practising accountant, who regularly performs independent examinations for charities in England and Wales and is a “charity sector expert”, according to the regulator.
This therefore made him culpabale to a greater degree than his colleagues of mismanagement and/or misconduct, the commission said, due to his knowledge of the charity sector legal and regulatory frameworks, and his qualifications.
According to the commission’s website, the Quba Trust now has two trustees, who took up their posts in April and October of this year, respectively.
Since the investigation, the current trustees have taken a number of steps to address the failures and weaknesses in the charity’s governance, the regulator said.
International charities ‘more vulnerable to abuse’
Joshua Fairbridge, the commission’s head of compliance visits and inspections, said: “Charities which operate internationally can be more vulnerable to abuse or harm as a result of where and how they operate.
“Our routine monitoring visit identified concerns which should have been addressed by the former trustees but were not.
“Trusteeship is an important public role that carries legal duties and responsibilities, which includes acting in a charity’s best interests and managing its resources responsibly.
“In this case, the former trustees we have taken action against failed to meet the standards expected of them, leading to serious governance and financial management failings.
“Our inquiry’s findings serve as a reminder of the duties placed on trustees. When those duties are breached, public trust and confidence in charities are undermined.
“The Commission, as demonstrated in this case, will act to protect the integrity of both the charity involved and the wider charitable sector.”
Civil Society has approached Quba Trust and Quba Accountancy for comment.
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