Islamic charity faces finance inquiry

An inquiry has been opened into an Islamic charity over concerns of potential mismanagement and a failure to submit accounts, a regulator has said.

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Jalalabad Association, whose objects include the advancement of the religion of Islam throughout the Hereford and Worcester area.

The charity was previously included in a class statutory inquiry after failing to submit financial information to the commission for five consecutive years.

As part of the class inquiry, the commission made an order demanding the trustees provide the outstanding information and to undertake a review, implementing changes to the charity’s procedures and practices around the preparation and submission of financial information.

The trustees failed to comply with this order, the watchdog said, but “eventually” submitted a set of accounts and a trustees’ report for the financial year ending 31 March 2013, 1735 days late.

The Charity Commission said the trustees “continue to be in default of their statutory duty” to file annual returns and accounts, with information for the years 2012 and 2014 – 2017 still outstanding.

As a result, the commission opened a separate statutory inquiry into the charity last month as a result of “continued non-compliance”.