Labour MP Signs Off On £1m WBA Football Ticket Ruse.

Preet Kaur Gill, the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, signed off two sets of annual accounts with her fellow Trustees (!?) of a charity, The Albion Foundation, which show that it was making huge annual "purchases" from West Bromwich Albion Football Club.

This scandal is growing by the day and is actually getting worse. For the full story so far, which you can read at your leisure, go to the following links:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2020/10/has-wba-fc-profited-from-albion.html

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2020/11/baggies-charity-mystery-on-liquidator.html

In a nutshell, the charitable Foundation is based in the horribly corrupt Labour fiefdom of Sandwell where Gill used to be an inconsequential Councillor and was widely perceived as being "not very bright". It claims to be the charitable "partner" of the football Club, currently in the Premier League. The Club gets great kudos from association with the Charity but, financially, donates sums to it ranging from very little to absolutely f*ck all.

This blog exclusively revealed that far from a rich football Club being charitable towards the Foundation it making huge sales of tickets, kit etc to the Charity thereby boosting its own profits! These payments have come to light in the last two sets of accounts where they are specified as "related party transactions" between the Charity and the Club.

Labour's Gill - who is still an "ambassador" for the Foundation according to her Parliamentary Register of Interests - signed off on accounts showing that the charity bought over a MILLION POUNDS worth of tickets etc in the two years when she was a Trustee. The Trustees agreed the 2018 annual accounts on 18th March, 2019 which showed under "related party transactions" WBAFC fleecing the so-called "charity" for £605,895. They agreed the 2019 accounts on 21st March, 2020 and another colossal payment of £507,890. As a Baggies fan myself I find this absolutely sickening.

It is not known whether Gill could be arsed to attend the Foundation's meetings (it is no good me asking her as she refuses to communicate with me) but her name is on both sets of annual accounts.

If you follow the above links you will see that the "Community Director" of the Foundation, Rob Lake, denied in writing this grotesque expenditure by the "charity" which is somewhat surprising as he holds the legal position of Company Secretary of The Albion Foundation Limited! He, as Company Secretary, and the "boss" of the Charity claimed that the expenditure was just around £50,000 ("just" £50k) for staff kit ("just" think about that for a minute folks!) When confronted with the evidence in the accounts Lake lost his tongue and has declined to explain the apparent shafting of the Foundation by WBAFC!

Whilst I attempted to make further enquiries of the Foundation, Adrian Goldberg and Chris Lepkowksi of the excellent "all things Baggies" Podcast "The Liquidator" tried to get information from the Club. But answers came there none. To date the mainstream media are ignoring this, at best, outrageous use of charitable funds.

Now I can exclusively reveal that it seems that large purchases may have been going on for much longer although they were hidden in the earlier accounts. At least one other mammoth payment of £879,559 has come to light. Sorry if this gets a little complicated but prior to the 2018 accounts the Foundation was using Crowther Beard Accountants of Worcester as auditors and in the 2017 accounts they specifically said that there were NO related party transactions. But there were - £879,559 just in that one year! We know this because the Foundation changed accountants and the "new lot" decided it was not appropriate to conceal these huge sums so that in the 2018 they have given the game away. (Curiously though a Mr John Painter was the same auditor named for both firms so either he moved firms or there was a takeover). Even though Mr Painter said there was no purchase in the 2017 figures his own 2018 accountsspecifically show that there were - WTF!: 

The Trustees of the 2017 accounts (which did not include Gill) approved the seemingly entirely incorrect claim that there were no related party transactions which is odd as the two trustees who physically signed the accounts were Martin Goodman and Martin Swain, the (then) Chief Exec of the Football Club and the Director of Communications! This pair are referred to as "related parties" in the accounts but their employer took £879,559 from the Charity and two Directors/Trustees  signed of fthe charity accounts which did not refer at all to this sum:

Even before I discovered this major discrepancy I had written to Mr Lake asking him to pass on my email to all relevant trustees (including Gill) and have them explain what they knew about the related party transactions:

"Dear Rob,

THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION - PRESS ENQUIRY

Can you please forward this email to the Albion Foundation Trustees named in the 30th June, 2019 accounts ie.

M C Swain

Ninder Johal

S King

S Topper

P C Band

Brendon Batson

L W Cooper

Preet Kaur Gill

M Miles

J Verrier

I understand that some of the trustees have now relinquished their positions but I imagine that you still have contact details.

Dear Trustees (as at 30/06/19),

As Trustees you agreed the accounts of the Albion Foundation for year end 30/06/09 which showed that in that financial year and the previous financial year the Charity had purchased over £1m (one million pounds) worth of tickets from WBA FC by way of related party transactions.

At the material time four trustees were also employees of WBA FC ie Martin Swain, Simon King, Lee Cooper and Mark Miles.

There seems to me to be a very obvious conflict of interest in the transfer of these huge sums from charitable funds to the football club. Are you able to say how this extraordinary situation came about?

Did any trustees who were also employees of WBA FC recuse themselves from meetings when these very large related party transactions were agreed and, if not, why not?

Which trustees were actually minuted as being present at meetings when these related party transactions were agreed?"

As above this was sent before I knew that this scandal goes back further still but in any event no-one at all has been decent enough to reply. This is a Charity and the lack of response is absolutely disgusting. Any "professional" body of trustees would have demanded an immediate inquiry but, hey, we are in bent Sandwell. Since July, however, the new Tory MP for West Brom East, Nicola Richards, has become a Trustee and I am writing to her to get her to demand (a) the truth about when these deals started and the total amount involved, (b) the identities of the Trustees involved and (c) whether it is in the best interests of the charity for these "related transactions" to continue and, if so, why? Ms Richards will herself now be responsible for agreeing the 2020 accounts and I am sure she will be concerned whether she can legally do that in accordance with her own fiduciary and other duties to represent the Charity's best interests.

Just in case Ms Richards cannot obtain the truth I have, in any event, made a formal report to the Charity Commission asking them to launch an investigation.

Postscript:

1. As with any charity or body in corrupt Labour Sandwell they have made sure the Council or Labour is involved in the governance of the organisation. Besides Gill the ghastly and scandal-prone Cllr Simon "The Sandwell Slasher" Hackett was also a trustee (2010 - 2017);
2. It's also no surprise that since 2016 Sandwell uber-greaser Ninder Johal is a Trustee; and
3. The Foundation now mired in sleaze is trying to do a deal for new premises - no doubt with taxpayers on the hook - with, er, mired in sleaze Labour Sandwell Council! 

I am sorry to say this, but be very careful before you give any of your own money to this lot until they get round to telling us the truth about what they have been up to.

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