Families for Survival and Save the Age Ltd
Earlier this week, two former trustees of Families for Survival and Save the Age Ltd were disqualified for their part in a million-pound benefit fraud scheme.
Chowdhury Muyeed and Asma Khanam were jailed in 2016 for their involvement in a £1.6 million scam which saw migrants being flown over from Italy to claim benefits falsely.
This week, The Charity Commission banned the pair from serving as trustees and removed the two organisations from its register.
Families for Survival was set up to provide support to disabled people and orphaned children, while Save the Age Ltd aimed to relieve the elderly of poverty, sickness and social isolation.
However, the commission – which had been monitoring Families for Survival since 2014 following concerns about its fundraising practices – found little evidence of charitable activity being carried out by either organisation. Enquiries into Families for Survival also uncovered that it shared founding trustees and a correspondence address with Save the Age.
The Metropolitan Police, Redbridge Council and the Department for Work and Pensions launched a joint investigation into the charities in 2015 due to suspected housing benefit fraud and social security benefit fraud. The founding trustees were both arrested in May 2015.
The Commission had further concerns about potential unauthorised trustee payments, lack of evidence of charitable expenditure, and suspicious fundraising activities. As such, it opened inquiries into both charities and issued a protective order to freeze the bank account of Save the Age.
Uncovering proof of serious misconduct and mismanagement, it was revealed that the trustees were using their accountancy firms to review the charities’ accounts, that the annual accounts submitted contained false information, and that the trustees benefitted financially from this arrangement.
Harvey Grenville, head of investigations and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: “This case highlights a cynical abuse of trusteeship by two individuals who used the good name of charity to further unlawful personal motives. They have proven themselves wholly unfit to serve as trustees.
“Close cooperation between different agencies has been critical to the outcome of this case. Our intervention has upheld key principles of charity law and helped criminal proceedings in bringing these individuals to justice.”
Montessori St Nicholas
In a separate case involving a charity, Philip Bujak, former chief executive of Montessori St Nicholas, has been jailed for six years. Mr Bujak was also sentenced to separate three-year and 18-month sentences to run concurrently with his six-year term.
The former CEO, stole money from the charity by using the company credit card, submitting false invoices, and benefiting from the sale of one of the charity’s properties; netting himself a secret payment of £100,000.
Following an investigation by City of London Police’s Fraud Squad, Mr Bujak was found guilty of three counts of fraud by false representation, one count of conspiracy to defraud, and one count of fraud by abuse of position.
Sentencing Mr Bujak, Judge Peter Tastar said: “Mr Bujak has an extremely strong personality – I think for the first time in my career, I saw a defendant bullying counsel.
“The sustained high levels of aggression shown by Mr Bujak were quite extraordinary.
“Right thinking people will be astonished and appalled to discover what Mr Bujak did in taking advantage as the CEO.”
A Montessori Schools Association spokesperson, said: “We welcome the verdict and are grateful to the authorities, who we have worked closely with, for their handling of this matter.”
“This has been a challenging time for Montessori St Nicholas having been let down by someone in a position of trust. Whilst we moved quickly and appropriately, lessons have been learned and our internal process adapted accordingly. As an organisation we remain focused on continuing to provide exceptional educational services.”
