The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has concluded its investigation into a 100-year-old charity, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), after finding its former treasurer misused its funds.
Civil Society writes:
In a letter sent to the charity’s trustees, OSCR said the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) had failed to ensure the “appropriate supervision” of its former treasurer Neil Baxter.
Baxter, who was treasurer and secretary of the charity from 2008 to 2017, was alleged to have increased his remuneration without the knowledge or agreement of the council.
OSCR identified issues with the financial information supplied to the charity’s council as not being sufficiently detailed or specific….
This may have contributed to the misuse of the charity funds going “unnoticed and unchallenged over a number of years”, the regulator said….
The letter reads: “There was really no effective oversight of his activities by the charity trustees. This resulted in clear financial damage and loss, as well as reputational damage, to the charity.”
While OSCR ruled this as mismanagement between 2008 to 2017, it said there is no evidence that it was intentional or that any charity trustees benefited from it.
Background
A report in Architect’s Journal states that in November 2017 almost 100 architects called for an overhaul of the charitable organisation.
The charity said in a statement that it had subsequently asked Baxter to step down.
Police Scotland investigated RIAS’s finances but closed its inquiry this year.
OSCR: ‘Consistent positive engagement’
In the letter to trustees, OSCR said it was satisfied that in dealing with the issues raised by this misuse of funds “the charity’s then trustees acted in the interests of the charity and with the level of diligence required of charity trustees”….
The regulator thanked the charity for its “consistent positive engagement with OSCR’s inquiry” and said that they were “very conscious of the length of time” it had taken to conclude it, so thanked the trustees for their patience throughout the process.
RIAS did not wish to provide a comment.
