The regulatory authority criticizes the behavior of the trustees in anti -Semitism scandal -hit -hit organization

The charity commission criticized the behavior of trustees in a charity organization, which it examined it about “comments” from its chairman about the Jewish people.

The regulatory authority began last year with the investigation of the thought factory and the research institute of Muslin and research in the Oxford initiative for British Islam to the comments of the chairman Taj Hargey.

In an interview, Hargey included “a comparison between Zionism and National Socialism” and the demands of politicians with connections to Judaism or Zionism to become “identified” so that the public should know that [they] are not objective and impartial '.

The Commission says that due to a lack of cooperation by trustees, it had to “spend considerable resources during her probe, which” to follow crucial information “.

“This meant that the Commission had to exercise its powers twice in order to force the trustees through a legal order to provide answers to questions and certain documents,” said the regulatory authority.

During his investigation, the regulatory authority was informed by the trustees that Hargey's comments were made “in personal quality, not on behalf of the charity”.

While the regulatory authority said it “recognizes the importance of freedom of expression for the leading charity organizations, but also expects that trusters are aware of the potential effects of comments on the reputation of their charity.”

The regulatory authority found that the trustees had “not taken sufficient measures to distinguish the identity of the charity organization from the commentary of the chairman in personal quality in order to protect the call of the charity”.

It added that “the name of the chair is often publicly connected to the charity, as in reporting on these comments.”

The charity organization has now been granted with official guidelines, in which the trustees “have to implement effective written guidelines and procedures for managing situations in the future”.

Financial concerns

In addition, the regulatory authority of the charity has given an official warning about repeated financial mistakes.

In five consecutive years, his accounts were not submitted to the charity in time, for the years in December 2019 to 2023.

“The law requires all trustees to fulfill the core tasks and responsibility, including the creation and submission of documents for financial reports in order to protect the call and good name of their charity and to work with the commission's inquiries,” said Steve Roake, deputy director of investigations and conformity, Steve Roake.

“Unfortunately, our case showed in which the Oxford initiative was involved for British Islam that the trustees repeatedly did not fulfill their legal obligations and responsibilities and had endangered the charity.

“We also found that the trustees did not take enough steps to distance their charity organization of comments on their chair, and criticize the trustees for this failure.