Stoke-on-Trent charity 'encouraged support for IS'

A charity that ran a mosque was used to encourage support for the Islamic State, an investigation has found.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation into Fazal Ellahi Charitable Trust in Stoke-on-Trent after imam Kamran Hussain was jailed in 2017 for supporting IS and encouraging terrorism.

It said a failure by trustees to manage resources properly led to its use for "terrorist purposes".

The charity has now been dissolved.

The commission said in 2009, the charity had been removed from the register because the commission believed it no longer existed.

But despite the removal, the charity continued to operate, it said.

The probe, launched in April last year, saw checks carried out, including an unannounced visit to the charity's premises and analysis of its bank statements.

The commission also received documents which had been seized by police at the premises.

Investigators found "serious mismanagement and misconduct" by trustees at the charity, and said they failed to maintain and preserve records relating to the charity's income and expenditure.

It said the trustees failed to properly manage, administer and protect the charity and its resources, resulting in it being used to facilitate terrorism offences.

Both trustees were removed from their posts and disqualified from holding future management positions at charities, it said.

The commission appointed an interim manager, who it said determined the charity did not have a "viable future" and redistributed over £132,000 of charitable funds to five registered charities around Stoke-on-Trent.

Michelle Russell, from the Charity Commission, said what had happened was "unacceptable".

"Whilst instances of abuse of charities for terrorism are rare, such links undermine public trust and confidence in charities, and the vital work that charities do," she said.

"It is right that those responsible have been held to account for their actions."

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