British boxer Amir Khan’s charity has been criticised by the Charity Commission over its failure to provide clear details about its spending or to submit annual accounts on time.
The Amir Khan Foundation was set up in 2014 and in the first two years it reported an income of £409,602 and expenditure on charitable activities of £241,469. But it failed to provide any details about exactly which projects were funded.
The Charity Commission, which regulates charities, harshly criticised the Amir Khan Foundation in a statement to The Times newspaper.
A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: “Public benefit is at the heart of what charities are about. By reporting on public benefit, trustees identify that their charity is effectively doing what it was set up to do and is making a difference to its beneficiaries.
“All registered charities must publish a trustees’ annual report and this must set out the charity’s activities for the public benefit. Separately, the public rightly expect charities to be transparent and accountable about the way in which they apply their income. A crucial factor in demonstrating transparency is meeting basic reporting requirements.
“The trustees of the Amir Khan Foundation have failed to submit their annual return and accounts on time for three consecutive years. This is unacceptable and we have reminded the trustees of their obligations.”
Khan has worked with the Penny Appeal charity in building an orphan village in the Gambia, which he opened in June. His foundation’s website also says that donations will go towards clean-water projects in Africa and Asia, helping Syrian refugees and feeding the poor and the homeless in the UK.
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A spokesman for the foundation told The Times: “The Amir Khan Foundation apologises for the late filing of their accounts but can confirm that the outstanding accounts will be submitted within the next ten days. We assure the general public and the Charity Commission that every penny raised is accounted for and this will be reflected in the accounts due to be submitted.”
Meanwhile, Penny Appeal told The Times that Khan’s foundation had supported its work: “We have received grants from the Amir Khan Foundation to implement specific projects on their behalf. We completed those projects, sent feedback reports to the Amir Khan Foundation and Amir Khan has also visited the projects funded.”
But Penny Appeal’s accounts did not specify income received from the Amir Khan Foundation.
