Receiver closes down North London Church

The Charity Commission, the organisation responsible for the
statutory regulation of charities in England and Wales, announced
today that the Victory Christian Centre (VCC) – a north London church
- has been closed by the receiver manager appointed to administer its
affairs in late October.

Receiver manager Don Bawtree of BDO Stoy Hayward was tasked to
temporally manage the charity’s business and conduct a full review of
its financial position. On taking up his post Bawtree found that the
trustees appeared to be unaware of the large debts that the charity
had run up and in the past month the financial position shows no
signs of recovery. Bawtree has now concluded that, unable to pay its
creditors, he had no choice but to close the church down.

The action follows a series of allegations about the misuse of the
charity’s funds by the church’s senior pastor Douglas Goodman
together with concerns about the charity’s governance and
administration by its trustees.

The Commission regrets that there’s no alternative but to close the
church. The trustees are legally responsible for the management of
the charity’s affairs. This situation has arisen because they failed
to exercise proper control – and in particular to curb the influence
of Pastor Goodman.

Mark Pinfold, Regional Operations Manager for the Charity
Commission’s London office, said: ‘The actions we have taken have
been necessary. The funds donated by a large congregation have been
put at serious risk – and we had to act to protect them. The decision
is regrettable but we could not allow the risk of funds being misused
to continue.’

Ends.

The Victory Christian Centre (charity no 800130) was registered on 18
January 1989.

Receiver/manager Don Bawtree was appointed on 29 October 2002.

Basic details about the Victory Christian Centre are available from
the Charity Commission’s Register which can be found on its website
at www.charitycommission.gov.uk

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