Post by odm on Nov 12, 2006 16:03:22 GMT
If any of you were in trouble I would give you my last penny. Over the years though I have noticed that more and more people refuse to give to Charity and though I feel very responsive to them myself I have stopped giving. I only make sure I give things to Woodside and the Animal Charities, Equine, etc via donations of clothes. Why? Because I long believed that whether it was governments ( i.e. overseas, Africa etc) or other unscrupulous types, something made me feel people never got their money. Time has revealed that this is the case and here is a report I want you to see to show you how greedy people in this life are.
You think this is a one-off? No it is,nt. This happens all the time. It is a crying shame that so many charities are falling by the wayside, but I for one am not prepared to pay for the administration of 100 people just to get a bowl of rice to an african. The day they change things and convince me people really are benefitting, the better.( Missionaries do a a better job hands on over there...I would like to add..ALWAYS CHECK your charity for Africa)
Anyway, regardless of overseas, and Charity in Africa, this has happened here.
12 November 2006
THEY GOT £2.6M FOR M.E. THEY GAVE..NOT A PENNY
EXCLUSIVE: Charity chiefs accused of creaming off donations and jobs for relatives
By Himaya Quasem
BOSSES of an ME charity who took £2.6million in donations from ordinary Scots have been accused of failing to give victims a single penny.
Now the chairwoman and three other directors of the M E Foundation have had their bank accounts frozen.
Watchdogs found a huge chunk of the cash - generated through charity shops and collection cans - went on cars and salaries for directors and their relatives.
Founder and chairwoman Helen Armstrong gave jobs to her son, daughter, granddaughter and their partners. More than £500,000 went to her relatives in wages.
Helen, 61, of Harthill, Lanarkshire, and her husband Findlay, 59, the foundation treasurer, also bought a fleet of vehicles.
And the two other trustees - George Smart, 62, secretary, and his wife Agnes, 63, manageress, of Methil, Fife - were paid.
According to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, the four directors have taken £330,000 in wages over the past nine years.
Charity rules state a paid employee cannot also be a director.
The directors also spent £280,000 on a plot of land outside Oban which they claimed would be turned into a "respite village" for ME sufferers. It never materialised.
None of the money went to the 50,000 Scots who suffer from the chronic-fatigue condition which leaves people exhausted.
Regulators said the actions of the directors amount to misconduct. Now they have seized the foundation's assets and taken the Armstrongs and Smarts to court.
Papers lodged at the Court of Session by the regulators said: "The accounts of the foundation, and of the charitable company submitted to the Registrar of Companies, do not show any charitable donations for grants made in implement of its charitable purposes, nor do the accounts show any charitable expenditure."
The papers detail salaries and perks for Helen Armstrong's family. These include: Buying son Colin Villamura, 34, of Shotts, a Mercedes van and giving him the job as van driver and stock controller on £14,400.
Giving his fiancŽe Cheryl Mooney, 25, of Shotts, the same job at a salary of £14,400.
Paying Mrs Armstrong's daughter Karen Healy, 39, of Shotts, £14,400 a year as shop manageress.
Employing her husband Graeme Healy, of Shotts, to run the furniture van and collect goods for £14,400 a year.
Paying Mrs Armstrong's granddaughter Donna Healy, 20, of Shotts, £8000 for a job over a cheque for £217 to Helen Armstrong after her troop of five and six-year-old girls ran a coffee morning in Dunfermline in 2001.
Last night, Ms McGeechan said: "I am absolutely flabbergasted. We decided to donate to them because I have a friend who sufferers from ME. We did it in good faith so to find this out is quite a shock.
"I am glad it has gone to the court and hopefully they will find a just solution."
Last night the regulators confirmed they had launched legal proceedings. Kirsty Gray, OSCR's head of monitoring and investigation, said: "We identified an apparent lack of charitable expenditure over the life of this charity, and significant private benefit derived by the charity trustees and their associated family.
"That is why we applied to the court." A judicial factor has been appointed to manage the charity's financial affairs. She is due to return to the Court of Session with her findings in nine weeks.
All the assets related to the charity have been sequestrated pending the outcome of the civil case.
Last night, Mrs Armstrong said: "I have spoken to my lawyers and we are defending this."
George Smart at first denied he was a director of the company but when pressed he did a U-turn. He said: "We are directors of the company but we don't know anything about missing money."
MISSING MILLIONS PROBE
SCOTLAND'S charities regulator has charged the ME Foundation with misconduct.
They say not a penny was given to help those who suffer from the condition. Here's how they allege some of the £2.6million was spent:
£280,000 on land in Oban which was never developed.
£330,000 on salaries for Helen and Findlay Armstrong and George and Agnes Smart.
£510,000 on salaries for Helen Armstrong's son, daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and her son's fiancŽe.
£150,000 on motor expenses such as petrol and servicing since 2001.
£155,500 to lease charity shops in Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy.
'We gave in good faith so to find this out is quite a shock'
