The Charity Commission has doubled the number of charities being looked at as part of its class inquiry into a £22m cheque cashing scandal.

The inquiry was launched earlier this year following a visit by HMRC to a company in Hackney, London that found more than 100 charities had cashed cheques with it over a 16-month period until March 2023.

In May the Commission announced that 10 charities were to be looked at initially. All were chosen due to the high number of cheques and total value involved.

This week the regulator has announced that ten more charities will be investigated.

The ten charities added to the inquiry are: Ezer Vznitz Foundation, Satmar Nursery Trust, Lehachyos, Dover Sholem Community Trust, Friends of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz, Vyoel Moshe Charitable Trust, The Z.S.V Trust, United Talmudical Associates Ltd, Forty Limited, and Bnois Jerusalem Schools.

All have been barred from issuing cheques without the consent of the Charity Commission.
The regulator said that it will “investigate how trustees had oversight of what happened to funds exchanged for the cheques, and if this cash has been used properly to support what the charities were set up to do”.

It added: “The Commission will seek to establish how trustees determined that these financial transactions were in their charity’s best interests.”

The ten charities already included in the inquiry are Inspirations, Beis Aharon Charitable Trust Limited, Mifal Hachesed Vehatzedokoh, Friend of Beis Soroh Schneirer, One Heart – Lev Echod, Yad Vochessed Association Limited, Friends of Beis Chinuch Lebonos Trust, Chasdei Dov Trust, Friends of Mercaz Hatorah Belz Macnivka and The Rehabilitation Trust.

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