Misconduct has been found at four charities involved in the Charity Commission’s £22m cashed cheques inquiry.

The four charities are The Z.S.V. Trust, Bnois Jerusalem Schools, Forty Limited and Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz.

They are among 105 being investigated as part of the regulator’s statutory class action.

All four have now been removed from the enquiry. which is looking into cheques exchanged for cash worth £22m between December 2021 and March 2023.

The regulator said it had found evidence all four charities had issued open cheques between these dates.

“Over the course of its investigation, the Commission was satisfied that each charity was undertaking charitable activities in line with their charitable purposes,” said the regulator.

“However, the regulator has made a finding of misconduct and/or mismanagement in all four cases as the use of blank or open cheques is high risk and lacks the effective oversight of charitable spending that the regulator would expect from trustees.”

All four charities have confirmed to the regulator that they no longer using blank or open cheques.

They have each been issued with a regulatory action plan to “address governance weaknesses and make improvements to their internal financial controls”.

It also points out that Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz has since been wound up and removed from the Charity Register.

The Charity Commission says that investigations remain ongoing into several other charities being initially investigated as part of its class inquiry.

Last year the Commission announced that a further 12 charities had been added to its investigations, to bring the initial total being looked at to 32. All charities involved are subject to an immediate order barring them from issuing cheques without consent from the regulator.

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