Charity behind world’s first vending machines for the homeless faces inquiry

Trustee Huzaifah Khaled admits stealing thousands of pounds from Action Hunger

The Charity Commission initially opened a compliance case into Action Hunger in August 2018. Alamy

An investigation is under way into a poverty charity that introduced the world's first vending machines for the homeless.

Huzaifah Khaled admitted stealing thousands of pounds from Action Hunger and was disqualified as a trustee of the charity after misappropriating nearly £50,000 ($67,227).

In 2017, he launched vending machines to feed the homeless after seeing poverty-stricken people at train stations while commuting to the University of Cambridge to complete his PhD in law.

The first was placed at a shopping centre in Nottingham, central England, from which food could be accessed by a card that homeless charities gave to those in need. The machines were distributed in New York and subsequently across America.

The Charity Commission is now expanding its investigation into Action Hunger after it was found that other trustees failed to remove control of the charity’s bank account from Mr Khaled.

The aid watchdog initially opened a compliance case into Action Hunger in August 2018, after another of the charity’s trustees submitted a serious incident report alerting the regulator that money was missing from the account.

After investigation, Mr Khaled admitted misappropriating funds and because of his "serious misconduct" the commission disqualified him from acting as a charity trustee or senior manager for 10 years.

Investigators since learnt that £50,324 was transferred from the charity's account to a private company linked to at least one of its current trustees.

The commission established that Mr Khaled and a former trustee were the only individuals who had control of the bank account and the transfer was apparently made without the consent of trustees.

The watchdog expressed concern about how this money might have been used.

"The commission therefore escalated its case to a full statutory inquiry to further examine this matter."

"Khaled’s conduct and clear abuse of his position at Action Hunger goes against everything we associate with charity, and it is right that he has been disqualified from serving as a trustee," said Amy Spiller of the Charity Commission.

"We are concerned that there may be wider issues in the administration of this charity. We will now examine these further through a full statutory inquiry and ensure, where necessary, action is taken to uphold public trust in charity."

The inquiry will also look at wider concerns around the charity’s financial management and the trustees’ compliance with their legal obligations.