Ban for previous Paralympian whose charity paid £1m to household business

A previous medal-winning Paralympian footballer hasactually been prohibited from being a trustee by the charities guarddog after an examination discovered a specialneeds sports charity he established paid £1m raised by the public to business run by him and his spouse.

The Charity Commission stated Matt Dimbylow, 51, who represented the GB seven-a-side football group in the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics, and was a Paralympic World Cup medal-winner, was guilty of severe misbehavior and abusing public trust.

Of £6m raised for the charity Dream It Believe It Achieve It (DIBIAI) through a lotto scratchcard plan, £1m was paid to business run by Dimbylow and his otherhalf, Emma Dimbylow, the commission discovered.

A additional £4.2m went on fundraising expenses, consistingof payments to an unnamed personal lotterygame operator. Just £300,000 was invested on charitable functions.

“The public anticipates trustees to makesure charitable funds are constantly thoroughly handled in the finest interests of their charity and the cause they serve, in this case supporting kids and handicapped individuals with sport. Instead, the Dimbylows mistreated the trust that was positioned in them as trustees,” stated the Charity Commission’s head of examinations, Amy Spiller.

The commission concluded there hadactually been considerable breaches of trust at the charity, while its failure to takeon disputes of interest had led to the set delightingin “substantial unauthorised monetary advantage” that was not in the charity’s finest interests.

Dimbylow – explained as the “driving force” at the DIBIAI – was prohibited completely from being a trustee, while Emma Dimbylow signed an contract appealing not to act as a trustee onceagain. The charity is in the procedure of being injury up, and any staying funds will be offered to another specialneeds sports charity.

Matt Dimbylow endedupbeing included in the Paralympian videogame after a head injury in 2003 activated a Parkinson’s-like brain condition. He likewise captained the England cerebral palsy football group and was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame alongwith Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and Patrick Vieira in 2013.

He signedup the charity the exactsame year, and the commission concluded he prepared to “extract funds from it”.

It stated it stepped in early on to avoid him, as a trustee, from paying himself an £80,000 income. He consequently modified the charity’s governing file to makeitpossiblefor it to pay business owned by himself and his partner.

The commission started officially examining the charity in 2017, and Matt Dimbylow was gotridof as a trustee 2 years lateron. Some of the funds paid by the charity to the Dimbylows’ business were consequently recuperated by the commission through the courts.

While the query was continuous, the commission stated it took action to limit more than 30 bank accounts held in the charity’s name to stop payments being made without the regulator’s approval. Although the charity fundraising regulator looked into the actions of the lotterygame operator, no action was taken.

The guarddog criticised 2 other unnamed trustees of the charity, who it stated were insufficiently independent and stoppedworking to hold the Dimbylows to account for their actions.

“Their absence of oversight and analysis developed an environment where the charity’s funds might be misapplied,” the commission concluded.

The commission stated it hoped its regulative action versus DIBIAI “sends a effective message to others who might be lured to usage charity in this method”.

Matt Dimbylow and DIBIAI were approached for remark.

Source: Ban for previous Paralympian whose charity paid £1m to household business.

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