The Charity Commission has issued a legal order to restrict financial transactions carried out by an international aid charity alleged to have links with proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas.

Al-Khair Foundation will need the regular’s consent for certain spending after it escalated its probe into the charity’s links with Hamas to a statutory inquiry.

A chief concern is that Mohammad Yousef Hasna, a worker at an organisation the Foundation is a partner of that delivers aid in Gaza, has been arrested in the UK and charged by US authorities “for conspiring to provide material support to Hamas”, according to the Charity Commission.

The regulator added that it is “considering all relevant information as part of its investigation”, including Hasna’s links to the charity “and wider allegations made about” the Foundation.

In restricting the charity’s spending the Commission notes that in the 12 months to July last year its income was more than £74m.

Also being looked at are whether the charity’s trustees “have carried out appropriate checks and due diligence on international partners” and that they have been “effectively monitoring the end use of funds internationally and have appropriate policies and procedures in place to protect funds from risk of misuse”.

The Commission says that it cannot investigate criminal matters and if any evidence of crime is found “this will be referred to the police”.

‘Cooperating fully’

In a statement the Al-Khair Foundation said it is “cooperating fully” with the Commission’s investigation

It added that it had filed a serious incident report with the regulator following the arrest of Hasna before the Commission launched its statutory inquiry.

“We work in some of the world's most challenging and complex environments, where communities face conflict, displacement, famine and natural disasters,” said the Foundation.

“These conditions can create significant operational challenges but our sole purpose is always to save lives, alleviate suffering, and help people build a brighter future – regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.

“Everywhere we work we are firmly committed to ensuring that the funds entrusted to us by our generous donors are used for their intended purpose: meeting the humanitarian needs of poor and marginalised people in the communities we serve.”

Class inquiry

The investigation into Al-Khair Foundation comes amid a stepping up in Commission’s scrutiny of charities involved in Palestinian areas.

Last week it launched a “fact finding statutory class inquiry” into concerns around charities working in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.

Eight charities will be initially investigated, and the regulator plans to include others in its probe that appear to be using charity funds to support, either directly or indirectly, activities in the settlements.

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