Inquiry opened into Islamic Centre and Mosque

The Charity Commission says it has opened an inquiry into Sunderland’s Islamic Education Centre and Mosque “due to regulatory concerns that there is, or has been, misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.”

The official inquiry will focus on the failure of the Centre to “submit all outstanding accounting information by July 2020”.

A statement from the Commission

said: “Despite issuing frequent reminders this deadline was not met. The charity’s failuretosubmitthenecessary accountingdocumentsontime has been a repeated pattern of behaviour. Prior to its submissionlastDecember,thecharity had gone three years without filing the legally required financial information.

"This is of serious concern in relation to the trustees’ duty to be accountable and transparent to the public.”

TheCommissionhaspreviouslyengagedwiththecharity aspartofa‘classinquiry’examining‘doubledefaulters’–charities that have failed to file the legallyrequiredfinancialinformationfortwoormoreconsecutive years.

The inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of their administration, governance and management of the charity and the extent to which any failings or weaknesses identified were a result of misconduct and or mismanagement by the trustees.

The inquiry will also examinereasonsbehindtheCentre’s “failure to comply with their statutory reporting duties including the timely submission of the charity’s annual reports and accounts to the Commission”.

The Commission also havs the scope to extend its inquiry “if additional issues emerge”.