The Commission has engaged with the Knightland Foundation since 2016, when its proactive review of the charity's accounts revealed a number of concerns, including around insufficiently documented loan agreements and transactions to connected companies. In March 2017, the Commission issued the charity's trustees with an action plan to address these matters.
The Commission continued to monitor the charity and due to unresolved concerns, it escalated its engagement to a statutory inquiry on 24 February 2021. An inquiry gives the regulator access to the full range of its legal and enforcement powers.
The inquiry will examine whether potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions have been properly managed and whether there has been any unauthorised trustee benefit. It will also look at wider concerns around the charity's financial and resource management and the trustees' compliance with their legal obligations.
The Commission has also exercised its powers under the Charities Act 2011 to appoint joint interim managers, John Dickinson and Joseph Colley, of Carter Backer Winter LLP, on 7 April 2021 to help address the concerns at the charity.
