Four trustees at a Christian charity have been disqualified for at least 10 years after being found responsible for serious misconduct over safeguarding and financial failures, the Charity Commission has said. 

The regulator today published its inquiry report into Salvation Proclaimers Ministries Limited, also known as Spac Nation.

The charity, which has been removed from the register, held religious services at London venues and organised community and outreach events.

The regulator said today it used its powers to disqualify 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”.

A primary concern was that the majority of the charity’s income and spending was not going through 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 regulator issued an order directing the charity to bank all of its money in December 2019, but trustees said they had decided to stop collecting donations.

Trustees said they did not expect to resume collections until January or February 2020.

On 11 May 2020 the trustees confirmed that donations had not resumed, and a few events had been sponsored by a couple of church leaders. 

“The trustees never reversed this decision,” the regulator said.

“The inquiry’s view was that the trustees failed to provide convincing reasons as to why this was in the best interests of the charity.

“Trustees are responsible for their charity’s financial security and should have plans for generating and spending income.”

The trustees’ operation of the charity put funds at risk, resulting in misconduct and mismanagement, the inquiry found.

Before December 2019 the charity received “significant” cash donations from its congregation, the regulator said.

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 and in the inquiry’s view the trustees failed to provide convincing reasons as to why this was the case,” the regulator said.

Houses associated with the charity with the intention of supporting the local community were set up.

The houses were also the homes of church leaders, and the inquiry subsequently found the nature of the relationship between the charity and the houses was unclear, the regulator said.

“Safeguarding risks were mitigated during the inquiry as the charity stopped holding services and other events in person due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and it also subsequently ceased to operate,” the regulator said.

“Failings in the trustees’ oversight of safeguarding amounted to misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity.”

The regulator’s inquiry also found that the charity’s financial record-keeping was “inadequate”, including for payments that could have posed a “reputational risk” to the charity. 

“The records provided lacked detail, showing only beneficiaries’ first names and amounts paid,” the regulator said.

“The trustees should have taken more care given the risk of reputational damage associated with some of the payments, including those intended to be used by beneficiaries to make payments to pay off known drug dealers.”

The inquiry was highly critical of the charity’s use of cash.

“Donations and expenditure were not properly recorded and there was also found to be a lack of segregation of duties between the pastors and the trustees,” the regulator said.

“As the assets of the charity were not held centrally, the trustees did not have oversight and control of the charity’s assets, and these were exposed to the risk of misapplication and misappropriation.”

The Insolvency Service applied for a petition for a public interest winding-up order against the charity in January 2022.

The petition said the charity failed to co-operate with the government agency’s investigation.

Discrepancies were also found in the information the charity provided to the Insolvency Service and regulator compared to details provided to its accountant.

The charity also operated without transparency and filed “suspicious and incorrect” accounts with Companies House and the regulator.

The High Court accepted the petition and a winding-up order was issued on 15 June 2022.