A trustee has been banned for 15 years from holding senior voluntary sector roles after it emerged he was involved under aliases in the running of seven charities, most of which had “no evidence of charitable activity”.

The Charity Commission action has been taken against Opas Tamba Jimmy-Kay, who used a number of aliases across the seven charities.

His 15-year ban from trusteeship and senior charity management roles is the longest term the regulator can hand out.

The aliases he used included several variations of spelling of his name, as well as slight changes in his date of birth.

When the regulator met with Jimmy-Kay, they found he had two driving licenses under his own name and as 'James Grantham', which was another of his aliases.

Six of the seven charities investigated have been removed from the register as the Commission “found little to no evidence that funds had been applied for charitable purposes and it was clear that false and misleading information had been submitted to the regulator”.

An investigation into one of the charities, KDDA UK, was concluded after it “swiftly demonstrated it was doing charitable work”. It remains on the register. In addition, Jimmy-Kay had resigned from its trustee board.

The other charities involved in the investigation and now removed from the register are Social Action and Poverty Alleviation (SAAPA), ACT (Action for Community Transformation) British Africa Connexions (“BAC”), FAO (Friends of African Organisations), Hope Direct and IPAD.

Another trustee, Kai Manyeh, at Hope Direct, has been disqualified for five years as a trustee for his role financial and governance failings at the charity.

“Mr Jimmy-Kay misled the Commission extensively about his identity and about the work of these charities,” said Charity Commission head of investigations Amy Spiller.

“His behaviour was entirely at odds with what we expect from trustees and we’re glad, through proactive investigation, that we’ve uncovered his elaborate deceit.

“Charities exist to do good and trustees should demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour and conduct. It’s right we have disqualified this individual for the longest time possible and removed his charities from the register.

“We hope this serves as a cautionary tale to others who might consider using charities for their own purposes.”

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