A judge today deferred his decision in Kids Company’s case against the Charity Commission after being told its founder Camila Batmangelidjh’s reputation had been “tainted” by the regulator.
Mr Justice Charles Bourne is considering whether to allow a judicial review into an inquiry report by the commission which examined Kids Company’s sudden collapse in 2015.
At the end of today’s hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, the judge said he would “take a little time to digest what has been said” and would not make an immediate decision on whether to grant a judicial review.
The court heard arguments on issues including the dispute over how many children the charity helped, the quality of the records kept at Kids Company and the impact the scandal had on trust in the organisation.
Explaining why they wanted a decision made as quickly as possible, lawyers representing Batmanghelidjh said: “My client is tainted by this report and the surrounding circumstances.”
They added that Batmanghelidjh was not employed and said that the commission’s report had played a part in stopping her finding work.
Kids Company collapsed overnight in October 2015 following a series of serious allegations in the media about safety and financial mismanagement. Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company’s trustees have always denied the claims.
In a separate case in February, a judge dismissed a government attempt to ban Batmanghelidjh and the trustees from serving in senior charity roles in the future.
The Charity Commission inquiry report concluded that Kids Company ran a “high risk” business model and kept inadequate financial reserves.
This approach made it harder for the charity to survive the media or wind down its services in an orderly way, the regulator said.