Failed charity ‘was briefed against by Cummings’
Founder of Kids Company tells court that demise of organisation was ‘politically driven’ to damage Cameron
THE founder of Kids Company has claimed the charity’s demise can be traced to hostile briefings by Dominic Cummings to harm David Cameron ahead of the Brexit vote.
Camila Batmanghelidjh and seven former trustees of the charity face being banned from holding company directorships in proceedings brought before the High Court by the Official Receiver.
The charity, which supported vulnerable young people in London and Bristol until it was wound up in 2015, attracted a number of high- profile backers, including Mr Cameron.
Kids Company received more than £42 million in funding from Whitehall between 1996 and 2015, including £3 million just days before its collapse.
Mr Cameron stuck by the charity as it battled to survive amid parlous finances and a police investigation into allegations of abuse and exploitation which was dropped seven months later.
In a written affidavit to the High Court, Ms Batmanghelidjh said Kids Company was used by the Government and Mr Cameron as a “paradigm of his ‘Big Society’ policy” to empower communities. She said: “I was photographed next to the Prime Minister at Downing Street thinking I was going into a private meeting. Subsequently, those images were used to suggest that I supported Big Society. However, I did not.”
It was this link, she claimed, that may have led to politically motivated attacks on Kids Company. Her affidavit said: “I believe the demise of Kids Company may have been politically driven both to silence its child protection advocacy and attack David Cameron in preparation for the Brexit referendum.
“I found it surprising that Dominic Cummings was briefing against the charity in public in 2015 when he had never visited it, so far as I am aware, or had any dealings with it.” Ms Batmanghelidjh also suggested Kids Company “fell victim to the moral panic” which erupted in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.
The Metropolitan Police conducted a seven-month inquiry into allegations of sexual and physical assault within the charity, but failed to uncover evidence of criminality or safeguarding failures.
Proceedings have now been brought against Ms Batmanghelidjh and former trustees including Alan Yentob, the former creative director of the BBC, who was the charity’s chairman. The Official Receiver argues that all eight are “unfit” to hold company directorships as a result of their handling of the charity, and is asking Mrs Justice Falk to disqualify them, which they are opposing.
It also argues Ms Batmanghelidjh was a “de facto” director of the charity, which she denies.
Ms Batmanghelidjh and the other trustees contend that the charity would have survived had it not been for the criminal allegations, which they say made fundraising impossible.
During evidence yesterday, Ms Batmanghelidjh was accused of providing a “ludicrous account that is plainly not true”. Lesley Anderson QC, for the Official Receiver, made the remark as she questioned Ms Batmanghelidjh over the minutes of a meeting about the longterm financial planning for the charity.
The former charity boss, who admitted she had not read the bulk of the evidence provided to her by the Official Receiver, also denied its “modus operandi” was to secure loans from wealthy donors with a view to persuading them to convert them into donations when it came time to repay. “That was not a strategy of ours,” she told the court.
Ms Anderson outlined loans from donors who were approached by Ms Batmanghelidjh, many of which were not repaid on time. They included a loan of around £120,000 from James Lupton, the Tory donor, whom Ms Batmanghelidjh assured the charity would repay within 10 days. Ms Anderson said: “The fact is that you failed to comply with that agreement.”
“I will have to take your word for it because I don’t remember,” Ms Batmanghelidjh replied.