Free Republic

The government has ordered Oxfam to hand over files on charity staff who paid for sex in earthquake-torn Haiti. The demand follows an investigation by The Times that revealed Oxfam covered up the use of prostitutes by senior aid workers. Matt Hancock, the culture secretary who is responsible for charity regulation, said: “These allegations are deeply shocking and Oxfam must now provide the Charity Commission with all the evidence they hold of events that happened in Haiti as a matter of urgency. “The reported historic behaviour of senior aid workers is abhorrent and completely unacceptable. Charities must ensure that they...

Convicted terrorists will be banned from running charities under a new law to stop donations being funneled to extremist groups, David Cameron has said. The Prime Minister said that the Government will “confront the menace of extremism” by ensuring that the Charity Commission is given new powers to prevent dangerous criminals misusing money that is donated to charities. Officials have expressed concerns that money donated to charities has been funding extremist groups in countries like Syria and Iraq. Previously, convicted terrorists and pedophiles have still been able to act as charity trustees in the UK. As part of the new...

(edit)Accounts filed at the Charity Commission show that the Government paid a total of £113,411 last year to a foundation run by senior members and activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir — a notorious Islamic extremist group that ministers promised to ban. (edit) Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, last night described the disclosure as “astonishing and outrageous” and accused the Government of “sleeping on the job”. Hizb regards integration as “dangerous” and says that British Muslims should “fight assimilation” into British society. It wants to create a global Islamic superstate, or “caliphate”, initially in Muslim-majority countries and then across the rest...

Britain rejects Bush's charges against charity By Sean O'Neill (Filed: 25/09/2003) Britain yesterday rejected claims by America that a London-based charity was a front group for the terrorist group Hamas. The Charity Commission said the US authorities were unable to substantiate claims that Interpal, which raises £4 million a year, channelled money to Hamas for terrorist and political activities. Investigators lifted a month-long freeze on Interpal's bank accounts and allowed it to continue operating normally. Last month President George W Bush ordered the US Treasury to "block and freeze" all Interpal's assets and declared that the charity was a "specially...