British Watchdog Freezes Galloway’s Hamas-Supporting Charity

by: IPT News

Britain’s Charity Commission announced Thursday that it froze bank accounts for Viva Palestina, an aid group which has delivered cash and supplies to Hamas officials in Gaza. In addition, the Commission, responsible for regulating charities in England and Wales, also replaced the group’s trustees with an interim manager.

Viva Palestina was founded by British Member of Parliament George Galloway in January 2009 and has led several humanitarian convoys into Gaza in support of the Hamas-led government. But it has never filed required financial disclosures, the Charity Commission statement said.

It is the second time the commission investigated Viva Palestina, with a 2010 inquiry finding the group was poorly managed and publicly exaggerated it’s the amount of money it raised.

The government intervention also is rooted in compliance with standard accounting regulations. But Viva Palestina’s overt embrace of Hamas remains a concern. During the convoys, Hamas officials greeted Viva Palestina at stops in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Gaza.

In March 2009, Galloway made a point of defiantly holding up a bag of cash before handing it to a Hamas minister despite the UK’s designation of Hamas as a terrorist group. Prominent Viva Palestina leaders have openly advocated for the destruction of Israel.

Viva Palestina has several international affiliates, including in the U.S., Canada, Indonesia, Turkey, Italy, Arabia, and the Gulf. The U.S. affiliate has been inactive since late 2010. When it was active, American activists for the group repeatedly acknowledged their work was “not about charity … but in every way that we cut it, it is political.”

The U.S. branch of Viva Palestina never incorporated or registered as a charity. When it was active, it used a non-profit charity called “Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace” as a pass-through, an IPT investigation found. An Internal Revenue Service audit last year recommended stripping the group of its tax exempt status, but it remains listed as a public charity.

Interim Manager appointed to Viva Palestina charity

Press release

From: The Charity CommissionFirst
published: 9 October 2014
Part of: Community and society

The Charity Commission has appointed an Interim Manager to the charity Viva Palestina (registered charity number 1129092) (‘the Charity’).

The charity regulator used its powers under the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’) to appoint Helen Blundell of MHA Bloomer Heaven as Interim Manager of the Charity to the exclusion of the Charity’s trustees as a temporary and protective measure. She took over the management of the Charity on Monday 15 September. The Charity has been informed of the decision.

Viva Palestina was registered in 2009; its objects include providing medicine and essential goods and services to the civilian population and highlighting the causes and results of wars with a view to achieving peace.

In June 2013, the regulator opened a statutory inquiry into the Charity to investigate serious concerns relating to financial management, including a failure by the current and/or former trustees to account for charity funds since the inception of the Charity. The commission also used its powers to freeze the Charity’s bank account.

Since the opening of the inquiry, the commission has used its legal powers to compel both former and current trustees to provide information to ensure that the Charity complied with its legal duty to submit the outstanding accounts and annual returns required by the commission. This resulted in two separate appeals being lodged with the First-Tier Tribunal, the nature of which delayed the progress of the inquiry. The appeals were subsequently withdrawn by the appellants, the last one being on 3 October 2014.

As the regulator’s concerns about the financial management of the Charity have not been resolved, and its annual accounts and returns are still outstanding, the commission has acted to appoint an Interim Manager to take over the management and administration of the Charity including specifically to compile and submit overdue accounts, reports and returns, and report to the commission any additional regulatory issues identified.

It is the commission’s normal practice to publish a report on conclusion of an inquiry setting out what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.

Read more: Interim Manager…Viva Palestina..