An audit into the conduct of one of the top pro Israel leaders in the UK, Jeremy Newmark, has found that while he was chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) he deceived the organisation out of tens of thousands of pounds.
The Jewish Chronicle has reported a catalogue of accusations against Newmark, who is currently chair of the Jewish Labour Movement and narrowly failed to win a parliamentary seat for Labour at last year’s general election.
Newmark is also one of the key figures behind the campaign to label some pro Palestinians within Labour as anti Semitic.
But in order to avoid a scandal, the JLC’s trustees decided to keep Mr Newmark’s alleged behaviour secret and not inform the police.
The JLC acts as an umbrella group for various Jewish community organisations, charities and pro-Israel advocacy groups.
The Jewish Chronicle revealed that Mr Newmark was alleged to have:
– Billed thousands of pounds of “inappropriate” personal expenses to the JLC — including holidays in Israel and VIP transport for himself, his wife and their children
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– Withdrawn thousands of pounds of unaccounted for cash on JLC credit and debit cards
– Leased a new BMW car worth £46,000, paid for by the JLC, to which he fixed his own personal number plate
– Employed his wife’s fundraising and events consultancy firm to run a JLC-backed educational project, paying the company more than £36,000
– Misled communal charities over the true cost of projects in an attempt to secure larger donations
– Attempted to cover up possible financial irregularities by blocking communication between the JLC and its auditors
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Newmark, 45, denied that he had misused JLC funds or claimed inappropriate expenses.
He also denied any wrongdoing surrounding the commissioning of his wife’s consultancy firm for a JLC project or the leasing of a £46,000 luxury car.
