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Internal documents reveal that executives at Penny Appeal privately warned that aid money sent to Gaza may have been diverted to Hamas and other terrorist groups. The charity is under investigation by the Charity Commission.
Senior executives at one of Britain's largest Islamic charities privately expressed fears that aid money sent to Gaza may have been diverted to Hamas and other terrorist groups, according to internal documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
Penny Appeal, which once generated annual revenues exceeding £25 million and operated in over 40 countries, is now under investigation by the Charity Commission. Earlier this year, inspectors raided its £3.5 million headquarters in Wakefield and seized thousands of documents. The charity donated more than £350,000 to the British organization Programme for NGOs to deliver aid into Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
This funding enabled the dispatch of up to 25 trucks carrying food and humanitarian supplies through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border. However, concerns escalated when updates on the distribution of funds failed to materialize. A whistleblower informed the MoS that insufficient 'due diligence' checks had been performed.
Minutes from an emergency meeting held on April 4, 2024, leaked to the newspaper, reveal that executives warned the funds could have ended up in the hands of 'Hamas and other terror-related entities operating in Gaza.
' They voiced concerns that local organizations involved in distributing the aid 'could very likely be a front for extreme and terror-related activity in Gaza that we should have no part in. ' The charity did not receive a list confirming who received the aid, and repeated requests for such lists were reportedly 'ignored. ' Adeem Younis, the founder of Penny Appeal, stepped down as head of trustees in 2019.
Programme for NGOs told bosses that it was not responsible for what happened to money and goods once they entered Gaza. Documents seen by the MoS include receipts showing thousands of pounds of donated funds were spent inside northern Gaza, including on 'media services,' raising fears that British donations could have benefited Hamas-linked organizations, as the terrorist group and its members are embedded in Gaza.
Despite a resolution for the group's trustees to voluntarily contact the Charity Commission, it is believed that angry staff later contacted the Commission as whistleblowers. The Charity Commission had previously found that Younis had personal interests 'affected by the charity's contract' with an Islamic broadcaster. Ahmed Ibrahim, director of Programme for NGOs, dismissed claims that Penny Appeal money may have financed terrorist groups inside Gaza.
He stated that he did submit updates to Penny Appeal and that the charity's bosses even visited his company's warehouses in Cairo, Egypt. Penny Appeal issued a statement: 'The donation was made following due diligence, production of a project budget, and Penny Appeal received a project completion report with receipts in June 2024, detailing the expenditure on the ground.
We are confident the funds were used as intended, and are enormously proud of the work we deliver to support vulnerable communities around the world.
' The Charity Commission confirmed that its regulatory compliance investigation into Penny Appeal is ongoing
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