The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into
the Islamic Research
Foundation International (registered charity number
1122086) to examine continued concerns about the administration
of the charity.
The charity’s objects include the advancement of the Islamic
faith, and it delivers on these aims by securing donations for
the Peace TV network (Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu), which
broadcasts religious content.
The Commission previously engaged with the charity in 2016 and
2019 over concerns raised about the charity’s governance. This
included concerns over the charity’s decision-making in relation
to its funding of Peace TV. In November 2019, Ofcom moved to
suspend Peace TV Urdu’s licence – and both its licence and that
of Peace TV were surrendered and consequently they are no longer
broadcasting in the UK.
On 17 April 2020 the Commission opened an inquiry to examine:
• the trustees’ decision making about continuing to fund the
Peace TV channels despite several breaches of Ofcom’s
Broadcasting Code
• the trustees’ willingness and ability to appropriately adapt
following the aforesaid serious issues arising from the charity
funding Peace TV channels
• whether there are conflicts of interest and/or loyalty arising
from an overlap between some of the charity’s trustees and the
Peace TV licensee’s directors
• the charity’s application of restricted funds and the trustees’
plans for funds already raised but not yet passed over to the
Peace TV channels
• whether all funds that the charity granted to fund the Peace TV
channels have been used to carry out activities that exclusively
furthered a charitable purpose
• whether the charity’s resources and/or activities have
furthered non-charitable purposes and/or resulted in the trustees
receiving unauthorised personal benefits
The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional
regulatory issues emerge.
The Commission has not made any conclusions and the opening of
the inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing.
It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry,
to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at,
what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the
outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission
are available on GOV.UK.
Ends
Notes to editors
- The charity was not itself a licence holder for Peace TV or
Peace TV Urdu; these were held by third parties.
