The Charity Commission has disqualified four trustees of a Christian charity for at least a decade over serious misconduct and financial failures.
The inquiry into the work of Salvation Proclaimers Ministries Ltd, also known as Spac Nation, was published today.
The charity first hit the headlines back in 2019 over allegations of financially exploiting young people.
According to the BBC one member said they were asked to commit benefit fraud by a trustee and another said they had a £5,000 loan taken out in their name.
Allegations of financial exploitation have always been denied by church leader Pastor Tobi Adegboyega who has spoken out about knife crime. He is also the cousin of Hollywood actor John Boyega.
The met police dropped its investigation into the organisation in 2020.
The evangelical church was set up in 2012 and set out to help young people - particularly those who had been caught up in gangs.The church held religious services which saw them serve 1000 followers a week.
Today's publication revealed the regulator had disqualified three trustees – Krystle Sarkodie, Mabinty Sesay and Adedapo Adegboyega – for 12 years each - and former trustee Ebo Dougan for 10 years, with the orders taking effect on 5 January 2024.
In December 2019, the regulator opened an inquiry into the charity after it identified “serious financial, governance and safeguarding concerns”.
One major cause of concern was that the charity’s income and spending didn't feature in a bank account.
The charity had one bank account, which was opened on 25 June 2019.
Between 25 June 2019 and 25 June 2020 receipts of £2,080 and payments of £2,080 went through the bank account and on 25 June 2020 the account had a zero balance.
“In contrast, the charity’s accounts as submitted to the commission show income of £718,398 and expenditure of £728,020 for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 and income of £54,455 and expenditure of £47,630 for the financial year ending 31 December 2020,” the regulator said.
The Charity Commission ordered SPAC nation to bank all of its money in December 2019, but trustees said they had decided to stop collecting donations, a decision that was not reversed according to the regulator.
It was this decision which lead to the disqualification of senior staff at the church.
According to the Charity Commission the role of a trustee is to create and spend income in the best interests of the organisation and according to the report, the trustees did not provide a convincing reason why discontinuing donations did that.
Before December 2019 the charity received “significant” cash donations from its congregation.
The charity’s accounts show that for the financial year ending 31 December 2018 it collected £980,761 in ‘tithes and offerings’ and for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 it collected £718,761.
“It is difficult to see how discontinuing the collection of donations could be in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries,” the regulator said.
Furthermore, houses associated with the charity with the intention of supporting the local community also became the homes of church leaders, a relationship which was also unclear.
Issues of safeguarding that had been raised previously were mitigated as the charity stopped holding services and other events in person due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The commission also said financial record-keeping was generally “inadequate”, with some payments potentially compromising the reputation of the charity.
In some cases only people's first names were documented when payments were made as well as sums going to pay off well known drug dealers.
The Insolvency Service applied for a petition for a public interest winding-up order against the charity in January 2022 which the High Court accepted.
This means the company will be forced to close down.