Interpal cleared of terrorist links
March 2009
The Charity Commission's inquiry into the Palestinians Relief and Development Fund (Interpal) concluded the charity did not fund terrorist organisations, but cited a need for stricter monitoring procedures
The Charity Commission has rejected allegations made by the BBC’s Panorama (26 July 2006) that UK-registered Palestinian relief and development charity Interpal was funding groups connected with terrorism.
The charity regulatory body concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support the claims. The Commission opened an inquiry into Interpal in December 2006 after an instalment of Panorama was broadcast reporting allegations that the charity’s local partners were promoting Hamas ideology. The programme claimed that many of these organisations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where the majority of Interpal’s funding is concentrated, supported and were in fact an integral part of Hamas – whose military wing is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK.
Two previous inquiries in 1996 and 2003 each produced insufficient evidence to link Interpal with Hamas activity. This time the Commission found that the charity had maintained clear financial audit trails in its delivery of humanitarian aid – more than £1.5m of Interpal’s £5m income was used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories during 2007 - but trustees had not taken sufficient measures to investigate allegations made against them.
The inquiry decided that the charity trustees had failed to establish adequate due diligence and monitoring procedures to ensure that partner organisations were not promoting terrorist ideologies or activities. Any existing procedures in place were deemed neither sufficient nor fully implemented.
Interpal’s relationship with the Union for Good, an organisation comprising a number of organisations working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, proved a cause for concern. The charity’s managing trustee, Essam Mustafa, was ordered to relinquish his role as general secretary for the union, of which Interpal was a founding member.
The Commission instructed the charity to completely dissociate from the Union for Good, on the grounds that continued membership was inappropriate. The report stated Interpal’s reputation was put at risk through controversial statements made by the union’s president, in support of violent Palestinian resistance, and possible associations between the charity and other members of the union that had terrorist links.
Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Commission, said that charities operating in high-risk situations require careful supervision, often entailing difficult and finely balanced judgements. ‘Even in these difficult areas, trustees must discharge their duty of care to ensure the charity’s work is protected from abuse, and must avoid activities that might put the charity’s assets or reputation at risk,’ he said.
The Commission will be reviewing with the trustees the implementation of all requirements resulting from the inquiry.
Author: Claire Shropshall
Claire Shropshall is the editorial assistant for Charity Funding Report, Caritas, and Codicil magazines. Claire has a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from Birmingham University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Periodical Journalism from London College of Communication. She previously worked in Central America as a voluntary reporter for an English-language newspaper.
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