Charity Commission apology in Jamie Bryson signature ‘forgery’ probe

In August last year the BBC reported that Mr Bryson appeared to have forged a signature used to verify a set of annual accounts for the West Winds Social and Cultural Institution (WWSCI) in Newtownards, where he was a development worker.

In 2016/17 its accounts were correctly signed off by Mr Bryson’s friend, Bangor pastor Mark Gordon. However the BBC reported that the next year Mr Gordon’s signature had been written by Mr Bryson. Both men firmly denied any wrongdoing.

The commission interviewed Mr Gordon under oath in August last year, but in March Mr Bryson lodged a formal complaint with the commission, challenging its authority to use such a legal affirmation. He also copied his complaint to the Attorney General.

Charity Commission Chief Commissioner Nicole Lappin has now written to Mr Gordon to apologise, in what remains a live investigation.

“As Chief Commissioner I want to offer my sincere apologies to you,” she said, adding that it was “apparent that commission staff erred”.

The commission board will now consider “what might be an appropriate form of words” for staff to use in the future.

“I trust this apology will go some way to addressing any concerns which you may have and that this letter will reassure you that I want to ensure that members of the public who voluntarily attend for interview can have confidence in us as the statutory regulator for the charity sector.”

Mr Gordon told the News Letter: “I knew straight away, after the story initially broke, that there was no forgery.”

Regarding the oath he was asked to take by the commission, he said: “I remember saying I would do it, but it all sounded a bit weird.”

It was similar to that used in courts, he said, and in it, he swore that any evidence he would give would be the whole truth.

Mr Gordon and Mr Bryson said the latter had filled in the pastor’s basic details on the document in preparation for it to be signed, but that another charity worker had submitted it in error before this had been done.

“Once we got wind of this we rang the commission and said that the document should not have gone through yet,” Mr Gordon said. If you compare the signatures from both years, the second year it was simply printed; it was clear there was “not even an attempt to forge my signature”.

“This all caused me a lot of grief. But we have asked the commission and it has not been able to show that we did anything wrong.”

Mr Bryson said Mr Gordon had already signed off the original document and that the pastor’s signature was supposed to have been added in a computer typeface, which he said was permissible, to prevent it being captured by others for fraud.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said it was unable to comment regarding the oath, as the issue is the subject of ongoing consideration and it is “engaging with the Office of the Attorney General regarding its process”. The Commission was also unable to comment on the investigation into WWSCI “as some matters are still ongoing” it added.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General confirmed that he had opened a file on the oath but now regards it as “concluded”. She added: “Among other functions with respect to charities, the Attorney General may refer a question of law in this area to the Charities Tribunal for determination.”  

Alistair

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