Watchdog launches inquiry into Plymouth charity

An inquiry has been launched into a Devon charity accused of persistently failing to submit its accounts on time.

The Charity Commission said it had opened the investigation into Plymouth Islamic Education Trust (PIETY), which aimed to provide support in the community and advance the faith of Islam across Devon and Cornwall.

The regulator said the charity had “consistently demonstrated that they are either unwilling or unable to comply with their legal duties” in regards to filing its annual documents.

PIETY has been approached by the BBC for comment.

The commission said the inquiry would examine the extent PIETY’s trustees had complied with their legal duties on the content, preparation and filing of its accounts and annual returns.

It added the inquiry would also look into whether trustees had complied with guidance issued to them previously and also to identify if there had been any misconduct or mismanagement at the charity.

The commission said it first approached PIETY in 2014 when the charity had “repeatedly failed to comply with statutory reporting requirements”.

It said before the current inquiry, PIETY had on two separate occasions been placed in its “double defaulter” inquiry for charities which failed to file their annual documents for two or more years in the previous five years.