Malcolm Offord's charity he intends to donate MSP salary to facing regulator investigation
The charity regulator has launched a probe into Scottish party leader’s Edinburgh-based charity
A charity run by the Reform UK leader in Scotland is facing an investigation by the regulators.
Lord Malcolm Offord, who is director and secretary of the Badenoch Trust, said he would donate his salary to the trust if he was successfully elected to Holyrood.
The Badenoch Trust bills itself as an Edinburgh-based charity which claims to offer support to third sector organisations including those specialising in children, mental health, medical research and the promotion of education and the arts.
But a probe has been launched by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) into the Badenoch Trust over its registration.
In the days before the election, OSCR received a complaint about the charity not being registered in Scotland.
The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 states that all organisations that bill themselves as charities in Scotland must be registered with OSCR.
OSCR had previously stated that “a decision on whether to take any regulatory action will be made once the assessment has been completed”.
The regulator has confirmed that a “formal inquiry” had been launched into the Badenoch Trust.
An OSCR spokesperson told The Scotsman: “Based on the information the Badenoch Trust has provided to OSCR, it appears that the charity is managed and controlled mainly in Scotland and carries out ongoing administrative activities from premises in Scotland.
“As such, the charity meets the criteria for registration with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
“In these circumstances, we have advised the charity to apply to register with OSCR at the earliest opportunity. Further guidance on cross-border charity regulation, including how to apply, can be found on the OSCR website.”
The Badenoch Trust, which was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2007, states it operates in Scotland and is registered at an Edinburgh address.
Scottish Labour deputy leader, Jackie Baillie, said: “This investigation is bound to raise some eyebrows.
“Malcolm Offord must be totally transparent with the OSCR and the public about what has happened here.”
SNP MSP, Stuart McMillan, said: “Malcolm Offord was quick to boast that he would be donating his MSP salary to charity - only for it to turn out that the charity in question is one he has significant interests in.
“Now we discover that the charity is facing an investigation by the charity regulator - it's time Malcolm Offord provided full transparency with the public."
A Scottish Greens spokesperson said: “A formal investigation is a serious escalation, and Malcolm Offord should now do the obvious thing by pausing any plan to give his MSP salary into a trust that he controls until these questions are resolved.
“Charities operating in Scotland are expected to follow Scotland’s charity rules. OSCR’s own guidance is clear that organisations which represent themselves as charities in Scotland may be required to register here, including charities already registered in England and Wales.
“Nobody is saying that a super-rich individual giving his MSP salary to charity is a bad thing. The issue is that of all the charities in Scotland he could have chosen, Lord Offord chose his own trust. The same charity that is now subject to a formal inquiry by the Scottish charity regulator.
“If Lord Offord wants people to believe this is about supporting young people and good causes in Scotland, then he needs to be completely transparent.
Speaking to journalists at Holyrood, Lord Offord said: “I’ve got no response to any of this.”
Reform UK and the Badenoch Trust have been approached for comment.
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