Politics

The Charity Commission has concluded that the trustee in charge of Khalsa Missionary Society has damaged the good name of charities by using a charity as a conduit for immigration fraud. The Commission has permanently removed him as a trustee barring him from becoming involved with charities again (see ‘Notes to editors’).

The Commission was notified in August 2013 by the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team (‘HOIE’) that it had commenced a criminal investigation into the charity as it suspected it was being abused to allow illegal entry of Indian nationals into the UK for a fee.

The Commission assisted the HOIE investigation through the sharing of information and opened a statutory inquiry in September 2014 to examine whether there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The Commission’s inquiry found that there was only one active trustee in the charity. As a result of its concerns the Commission removed this individual as a trustee in January 2016.

The individual pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to 3 counts of assisting unlawful immigration to between 2011 and 2013, and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment on 16 May 2016.

The Commission’s inquiry concluded that the trustee used the charity to facilitate immigration fraud. The charity had been used as a conduit for the immigration fraud, which worked by the charity sponsoring individuals as ministers for religion, while funds were circulated through the charity’s bank accounts to give the appearance that the charity was receiving legitimate donations.

The inquiry concluded that there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity in that he had breached his legal duties to protect the charity’s assets by using the charity as a conduit to commit immigration fraud. The regulator also concluded that he had potentially providing false and misleading information to the Commission.

The Commission removed the charity from the register in February 2016 as it no longer operated.

Carl Mehta, Head of Investigations and Enforcement, said:

We work closely with law enforcement agencies to prevent and disrupt abuse of charities. In this case we were able to share information with the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team and support the successful prosecution of an individual who was benefiting from this disgraceful abuse of charitable status.

Charity trustees must act with integrity and avoid any personal benefit or conflicts of interest. They must not misuse charity funds or assets and make decisions which are reasonable and in the best interests of the charity. Trustee duties are detailed in our guidance ‘The essential trustee’.

The full report is available on GOV.UK.

Ends

PR 22/17

Notes to editors

1. Removed under Section 79 (2)(a)(i) of the Charities Act 2011, therefore disqualified from holding a trustee position or other management role in a charity subject to a waiver from the Commission.
2. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
3. Search for charities on our online register.

It is a great honour to be here today. I lived and worked for two years with the British, US and Afghan military in the war-zone of Helmand, southern Afghanistan, during which time our coalition forces were losing lives on an almost daily basis. And my eldest son is a British army officer who could be deployed on operations at any time. Therefore I know from personal experience about the good that our armed forces can achieve in trying to stabilise places in the world that are shattered by conflict. And I know about the sacrifices that brave military personnel are often called upon to make.

I repeat that it is an honour to be here today.

I echo the US Ambassador’s congratulations to President Lungu, to the Government, to the Zambian Defence forces, and to the Zambian people, for supporting peace and security mission in Africa, with boots on the ground.

I am glad that British Army trainers could assist again with the Zambian Defence Force’s pre-deployment training, in 2017 as we did in 2016. The training of ZAMBATT 3 over the last 2 months has been a joint effort between Zambian, US and UK trainers: the Zambian Army under Colonel Changala, US African Contingency Operations Training & Assistance under the direction of Curtis Crum, and British Army under WO1 Regimental Sergeant Major Ash Curson.

The training package involved individual specialist courses ranging from advance medical training to creating and training the female engagement teams rightly highlighted by the US Ambassador. This training then progressed from training individuals to Companies of around 120 personnel, and to the whole Battle Group 750-strong.

I wish to thank the Zambian and US teams for their patience in trying to understand the wide variety of British accents within the UK team. While Britain can’t compare with Zambia for the number of local languages spoken, we display our diversity through regional accents and dialects which can be difficult to comprehend when first heard, even for fellow countrymen like myself.

The British team have described to me the training as “testing”. I gather that Mr Crum and Colonel Changala, who designed, coordinated and, ran this package, are not the kind of trainers who would allow anyone to have an easy or comfortable time.

Credit must go to Colonel Changala, and his Zambian trainers, who worked tirelessly to ensure their fellow country men and women are now well placed to achieve a positive effect in the Central African Republic.

Mention should be made of the Zambian Air Force contingent, under the command of Col Alipher Phiri, who have been put through their paces – from base protection to helicopter casualty evacuation exercise. I wish you well with your probable mission to South Sudan.

I wish to pay tribute, as well, to Lt Col John Banda, CO of ZAMBATT 3, for the sterling effort he and his headquarters team have put into shaping ZAMBATT 3 into an effective force of which Zambia can proud.

ZAMBATT 3 can expect a challenging tour, with your subunits spread over great distances in a confusing and contested environment, where the belligerent forces are neither easily defined nor contained.

ZAMBATT 3, you represent a glimmer of hope to the people of the Central African Republic. Treat them with respect. Since you are guests in their land, the onus will be on you to understand their story, their pain and anger, after the trauma they have experienced. When you finish your work in their country, let them remember the people of Zambia with affection and pride.

Lt Col John Banda, I wish you and the men and women of ZAMBATT 3 the best of luck. From what my British Army colleagues have told me, I don’t believe that ZAMBATT 3 will be found wanting.