Yentob faces boardroom ban over Kids Co charity collapse
CAMILA Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob face a ban on being business directors, after presiding over Kids Company’s collapse.
The Government’s Insolvency Service has reportedly warned the charity’s former board members it is planning disqualification proceedings.
The ban would affect all the ex-directors – including former WH Smith boss Richard Handover and Sunetra Atkinson, ex-wife of actor Rowan Atkinson – who served with founder Miss Batmanghelidjh and ex-BBC chief Mr Yentob, the charity’s chairman.
The move heaps fresh shame on the Kids Company bosses, who were branded ‘ negligent’ for the way they allowed the taxpayer-funded charity to run.
Mr Yentob was forced to resign from his £330,000-a-year job as the BBC’s creative director after he tried to intervene in its coverage of Kids Com- Media and Technology Editor pany’s 2015 collapse. He has since set up his own production company. But he is sole director and would be forced to resign if he is disqualified.
Kids Company doled out money ‘ willy- nilly’ to children, including relatives of staff. It was given £46million of taxpayer cash over 13 years, and relied on ‘wishful thinking’ that the Government would forever prop it up, the public accounts committee found.
Yesterday the Insolvency Service said its probe was ‘ongoing’.
Mr Yentob could not be reached for comment. A statement from the extrustees said the interests of children in their care had always been their ‘primary concern’, adding: ‘There is no suggestion that we acted dishonestly or in bad faith.’