The Charity Commission has appointed interim managers to run an under-investigation zoo charity with links to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie.

The regulator started investigating The Aspinall Foundation in 2020 amid “concerns about the management of conflict of interest” and its transactions.

But new concerns have prompted the Commission to deploy interim managers to take over its running.

The charity was set up more than 40 years ago by the late casino owner John Aspinall and in 2021 it appointed Carrie Johnson (then Symonds) as its head of communications.

“Towards the end of last year, fresh issues of concern were identified requiring us to embark on a further phase of investigation and our investigators are working hard to pursue these at pace,” said a Charity Commission spokesperson.

“The Commission has now appointed interim managers to The Aspinall Foundation who will work alongside the existing trustees on specific areas in line with the charity’s governing document.”

They added that its probe into the charity “is ongoing”.

While at the charity the interim managers will make decisions around the running of the charity that cannot be made by trustees due to conflicts of interest. They will also review the charity’s board to see it has the right number of trustees with the expertise to run the organisation.

Interim managers, who were appointed at the end of May, will also look to see if any trustees or their family members received any benefit from the charity, either directly or indirectly.

Four years ago the Charity Commission escalated its investigation into the Aspinall Foundation, which runs two wildlife parks in Kent, Howletts and Port Lympne, to a statutory inquiry.

It also launched a statutory inquiry into a separate charity Howletts Wild Animal Trust which has links to the Aspinall Foundation.

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