CHARITY CHEQUE SCANDAL EXPOSED; WATCHDOG DISCOVERS 'SERIOUS BREACHES OF FINANCIAL CONTROL'.

Byline: ROY BAYLISS

THE treasurer of a centre for black people in a deprived area of Birmingham regularly walked around with presigned blank cheques in his pocket, the Sunday Mercury can reveal today.

The dubious practice - strictly against the rules of the charity - had apparently been going on for nearly 30 years.

When charity watchdogs moved in to investigate the financial affairs of the Afro-Caribbean Millennium Centre (ACMC), they were told that a number of the cheques had been destroyed because of the impending probe.

The tangled web was exposed when the Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the centre in Dudley Road, Winson Green, Birmingham.

Former city councillor Phil Murphy was initially suspended as treasurer and trustee of the ACMC. Although he has since stepped down as treasurer, he has been allowed to stay on as a trus-tee.

Hhas also agreed to pay back an unspecified amount of money to the charity.

The Charity Commission investigation, which has just been concluded, discovered that Mr Murphy and another trustee received unauthorised payments for their work as trustees for five years.

The charity's own governing document prohibits the paying of trustees, although they can claim legitimate expenses. The amount the two men were paid has not been revealed.

The Commission says: "It emerged that the then treasurer [Mr Murphy] regularly held several pre-signed blank cheques on his person and there had been a practice of signing blank cheques for 27 years.

"The inquiry found that the then treasurer had countersigned at least two blank cheques, making them payable to himself.

"Self-signing of cheques payable to yourself and pre-signing blank cheques are both serious breaches of financial control.

"Immediately prior to conducting an inspection of the books and records at the charity's premises, the Commission was alerted to the possibility that a number of pre-signed blank cheques had been destroyed in anticipation of the inspection.

"Destroyed pieces of several presigned blank cheques were recovered and revealed they contained the signature of one of the authorised trustees."

Mismanagement The Charity Commission decided that 'the then treasurer had committed acts of mismanagement' but has ruled that it would not be 'proportionate' to remove him as a trustee.

This is subject to there being no future dealings in pre-signed blank cheques, and both Mr Murphy and the other trustee involved repaying the money.

The Charity Commission also found that ACMC had made an unauthorised loan to an unnamed organisation of pounds 8,265, most of which was not repaid and had to be written off.

The ACMC also undertook work for the organisation - said to be in financial difficulty - to the value of pounds 12,000 but was never paid.

The decision to lend the money - said by the Charity Commission to be 'an error of judgment' - was made without the authority of the whole trustee body.

The Commission says an action plan has been agreed to put ACMC back on a proper footing and a monitoring visit will take place in six months.

CAPTION(S):

STAR: West Indian cricket legend Sir Viv Richards opened the ACMC in 2004. BREACHES: Phil Murphy received unauthorised payments as a trustee of the Afro-Caribbean Millennium Centre