February 12, 2021
Falk J, following a 10 week trial, has given a judgment ([2021] EWHC 175 (Ch)) dismissing the Official Receiver’s disqualification application against the charity’s trustee directors, 5 of whom were successfully represented by George Bompas QC (leading Catherine Doran of Radcliffe Chambers). The disqualification proceedings resulted from the charity’s high profile collapse in mid-2015, with enormous attendant media reporting focused on Camila Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob (one of George Bompas’ clients), and with a subsequent widely publicised investigation in Parliament. In her judgment Falk J concluded: “I am wholly satisfied that a disqualification order is not warranted against any of the Trustees. … the public need no protection from them. On the contrary, I have a great deal of respect for the care and commitment they showed in highly challenging circumstances.”
