Taxpayers ‘picked up school bill for Kids Company chauffeur’
THE founder of scandal-hit Kids Company used thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to fund her chauffeur, it has been claimed.
Camila Batmanghelidjh paid driver Jeton Cavolli, 46, a salary of up to £40,000 over two decades. It is also alleged she used charity money to pay part of the school costs of Mr Cavolli’s teenage daughter.
Kids Company collapsed last week amid accusations of financial mismanagement and failing to properly investigate sexual abuse.
It had been helping more than 36,000 vulnerable young people and received a quarter of its funding from taxpayers. Mr Cavolli, who is from Albania and known as Tony, is said to have been treated by Miss Batmanghelidjh ‘like a member of her family’.
He had also been listed as ‘operations manager’ since 1997. But a former employee told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I don’t think Tony was paid to do anything other than drive Camila’s car. She can’t drive and she never took public transport because she didn’t like to walk long distances.’
It was reported that the charity’s accounts showed funds paid for Mr Cavolli’s daughter to attend prestigious Dauntsey’s School in Wiltshire. Miss Batmanghelidjh later said the £26,000 fees were paid by a school bursary but it was alleged charity money was used for costs such as clothing.
When asked previously why the charity’s accounts showed money going to Dauntsey’s School, she said: ‘I don’t have the accounts in front of me. I don’t know what those figures relate to.’ The Daily Mail was unable to contact Miss Batmanghelidjh, Mr Cavolli or a Kids Company spokesman yesterday.