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The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into a disability charity after identifying potential “wrongdoing and abuse” by a senior employee.
The regulator said it would examine concerns about the Organisation of Blind Africans and Caribbeans, including whether trustees “exercised sufficient oversight” over the charity’s executive team.
The commission said it was worried about the role of “an individual involved in the control of the charity” but did not name that person.
There was no answer on the charity’s phone line and it did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The regulator, which opened its inquiry last month, said its concerns about the charity had increased because of “significant difficulties in obtaining information from the trustees”.
The commission first engaged with Obac in June 2021 but had met with “multiple instances of non-compliance” since, it said.
The charity registered with the commission in 2011 and provides services to people who are blind or partially sighted in the UK, Africa and the Caribbean.
The commission said: “The underlying concerns about this individual’s continued involvement in the charity and the trustees’ ongoing failures to properly engage with the regulator have resulted in the commission’s decision to open a statutory inquiry.”
Obac’s income has increased steadily from £70,000 in 2016/17 to £210,000 last year, according to information published by the commission.
Its last two sets of accounts have been filed late with the regulator, according to the commission’s website. OBAC’s accounts have also been qualified in each of the past five years, meaning that the independent auditor has reservations about an aspect of those accounts.