The Charity Commission recovered just more than £83,000 of the £650,000 in funds it spent investigating a fundraising website operator, new documents show.

The regulator opened a statutory inquiry into the Dove Trust, a Christian charity, in 2013 to look into serious governance concerns.

The charity operated the now defunct fundraising website charity CharityGiving and the regulator’s investigation saw Pesh Framjee, then a partner at Crowe UK, appointed as interim manager during the investigation.

Framjee was paid by the regulator during his years in charge because there were no funds available at the charity to pay for his services.

The regulator’s investigation into the charity resulted in costs of £650,000 over six years, documents filed with the High Court show. 

The regulator previously applied to the High Court to obtain the remaining money in the Dove Trust accounts.

The charity was removed from the register in March last year.

The most recent Official Custodian for Charities annual accounts, published last week, show a section order was made requiring funds to be paid to the custodian.

The custodian’s accounts showed £83,665 was paid to the commission, just more than 12.5 per cent of the £650,000 figure.

“The custodian paid a total of £810 to third parties for services rendered and £83,665.33 to the Charity Commission as reimbursement of costs via an order under section 85 of the Charities Act 2011,” the accounts read.