Anyone would have thought Alan Yentob would be proud of his long association with the charity Kids’ Company.
He has often spoken of its good works; he has dedicated BBC programmes to it; and he even boasted after its closure that he had personally given it “a quarter of a million pounds”.
But it turns out the pint-sized BBC arts presenter, who served as Kids Company’s chairman of trustees between 2003 and August 2015, has quietly expunged all reference to the charity from his entry in that book dedicated to men and women of influence, Who’s Who.
Now, it is as though Yentob never had a formal link to this defunct organisation, which ploughed through almost £50 million of public money, in the first place.
The reference to Kids’ Company is the only part of Yentob’s Who’s Who entry, including his disastrous chairmanship of the ICA, which he has removed.
This interview shows how passionate – indeed, angry – Yentob was in defence of Kids’ Company a year ago:
Yet if Yentob is hoping that excising the words “Kids’ Company’ from his Who’s Who entry will be enough to distance himself from the controversy, he’s wrong.
The Charity Commission is still investigating his conduct and that of his fellow trustees. Legally, the buck stops with all of them.
The reason the commission’s inquiry is taking so long is that only two members of Charity Commission staff are working on it and Whitehall sources say they are hampered by poor resources and a heavy workload – they are juggling several investigations into other charities as well.
I am aware of several witnesses who have refused to give evidence to the inquiry on the basis that they fear recriminations, which may mean it is not as complete as it should be.
However, it’s understood the commission’s report into Kids Company will be published before Christmas. Then, hopefully, will come answers to outstanding questions over tax, massive cash handouts and various conflicts of interest.
Last year Yentob warned that London councils would be flooded with cases from Kids’ Company’s clients if it closed down.
Yet Lambeth Council, where Kids’ Company was based, said there has been no rise in cases in the last 12 months.
Might this explain Yentob’s revisionism?
Another burning question which must be addressed surrounds what happened to the £3 million of government money Kids’ Company was given immediately before it closed. Yentob knows all about the circumstances in which this sum was handed over having threatened the government that if it didn’t comply, communities would “descend into savergery”.
Rather like the reference to Kids’ Company in Yentob’s Who’s Who entry, the cash has disappeared, and nobody seems to know where it has gone.
Even if Yentob, as chairman of Kids’ Company’s trustees, could help solve the mystery of the missing loot, he showed no inclination to do so: he did not comment when contacted by Heat Street.