£47,500 for dismissed prison charity whistle-blower

A prison counsellor and model from Yorkshire was unfairly dismissed by a charity after she blew the whistle on the alleged theft of more than £300,000 of taxpayers' money, an employment tribunal has ruled.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Jan 2011, 07:51 BST
Updated 18th Jan 2011, 07:51 BST

Oxford graduate Robina Husain-Naviatti, 38, was awarded 47,580 in compensation and the Charity Commission has been asked to investigate her claims of embezzlement at Forensic Therapies, which provided counselling services in jails.

Miss Husain-Naviatti, from Rotherham, was made redundant from her 35,000-a-year deputy director role at the charity in 2009 after she alerted the commission to a potential fraud, a tribunal panel heard.

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She told the charity's trustees about a string of alleged financial discrepancies, claiming a 535,000 Cabinet Office grant had been recorded as only 240,000 in a business plan and suggesting that director Steve Morris's salary had been paid several times over by different funding bodies.

Mr Morris had previously received a caution for falsifying cheques, the hearing in Watford was told.

After the judgment Miss Husain-Naviatti, a trained psychotherapist and mediator, said: "I was victimised, harassed and ultimately lost my livelihood for daring to raise serious concerns about the potential misuse of public funds with no benefit to myself."

She faces a fight to get her compensation after the charity's trustees put it into liquidation shortly before the case began.

The charity denied that its funds had been embezzled.

Related topics:YorkshireOxfordCharity CommissionRotherham