Church charity that handed out £900,000 in unsecured loans under investigation

The Charity Commission is to investigate a church charity after it emerged its trustees had handed out more than £900,000 in unsecured loans.

The loans were given by Citygate Christian Outreach Centre to "an individual", said the regulator which said it is also concerned over the charity’s awarding of payments and “other financial benefits” to trustees linked to the organisation.

The investigation will look into decision making at the Kent based charity around the unsecured loans. Whether there has been any financial loss to the charity will also be investigated.

Potential conflicts of interest in relation to financial transactions is another area that will be looked at, as will whether there has been any unauthorised private benefit to trustees.

Trustees’ compliance with charity law will also be included in the investigation.

The charity had been originally investigated as part of a class inquiry in March into those who have failed to file their accounts. These late accounts have since been submitted.

“It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were,” added the regulator.