Fraud police find ‘no significant evidence’ of charity wrongdoing

Specialist officers from South Yorkshire Police were called in to examine the affairs of the Barnsley Black and Ethnic Minority Initiative (BBEMI) last August, and have just completed their inquiry.

An exhaustive trawl of the now-defunct charity’s records has been undertaken and former directors and staff have been interviewed several times, but officers said there were no grounds for prosecution.

The investigation was sparked by Barnsley Council, which provided a large portion of BBEMI’s funding. The council said at the time that “serious concerns” had been raised over its financial management.

Officers from Barnsley CID said they were currently in the process of ending their operation, which started with a series of police raids on the premises used by BBEMI in Barnsley town centre.

It is understood that letters have been sent to all those directors who had been under suspicion, telling them there was no case to answer and that “no significant evidence” of wrongdoing had been found.

DC Dean Hamby, who was in charge of the nine-month operation which sifted through the charity’s records, said he and his colleagues had examined every aspect of the organisation’s administration.

He added: “It has been a long, meticulous and detailed investigation which has finally come to a conclusion this week.

“It has involved looking at a lot of paperwork and computer work which has been very time-consuming. At this stage, we have reviewed all the evidence and having reviewed the original complaint we have decided that there will be no case which will be taken forward to the Crown Prosecution Service.”

The case is now being passed back to Barnsley Council and the Charities Commission by police.