| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE : The Commissioner of Charities (COC) has banned a company called "Love Foundation" from conducting any fund-raising appeal in the name of charity.
The ban, effective from April 17, also applies to the company's founder, Jasons Lim Hua Tong.
The COC said the ban is imposed to protect public interest because Love Foundation is not a registered charity. So the company and its founder Lim are considered "not fit and proper" to do fund-raising for charitable purposes.
The COC added that it has received complaints of misrepresentation by Lim, who is an undischarged bankrupt.
According to its website, Love Foundation's mission is to "foster bonding and celebrate love within families".
Love Foundation was set up as a company limited by guarantee in 2006 by Lim and had been featured in the Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry's Newsletter FACES in 2006.
It has also organised a few fundraising activities to support charities. For example, Love Foundation's website initially claimed it raised S$250,000 last August, through a dinner with XiYen Restaurant, for the Pathlight School which takes in children with autism.
But Pathlight said the amount was only about S$30,000. It has also requested Love Foundation to remove the claim that it raised the much bigger amount. Love Foundation has since acceded to Pathlight's request. Lim claimed that the rest of the over S$200,000 was pledged by donors separately after the dinner.
Last month, Love Foundation organised a "Love Charity Dinner" to raise S$150,000 for three charities - the Sree Narayana Mission Home for the Aged Sick, Kampong Senang and the Yong-En Care Centre - through an auction.
The COC is also investigating into the company's fund-raising activities for possible violation of the Charities Act. Under the law, an undischarged bankrupt is not allowed to be a company director.
In his defence, Lim said although he founded the company and has been its key representative, Love Foundation was registered under his wife's name. He added that he holds no position in the company and only serves as a volunteer at Love Foundation.
Before he set up Love Foundation, Lim was convicted and fined S$5,000 in 2005 for being indirectly involved in the management of a company called Jwinner Education Centre Pte Ltd, while he was still an undischarged bankrupt. However, Lim said he later successfully appealed against the conviction.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia on Wednesday, Lim denied all wrongdoing. "It comes as a shock to us, because everything that we did is above board. We got the necessary licence, we applied for the fund-raising licence and all the accounts are audited, submitted to the police license unit, and all the donation cheques are issued directly to the beneficiaries," said Lim.
Lim said he is saddened and puzzled by the ban, especially as it comes at a time when he and his friends have intended to register Love Foundation as a charity.
Meanwhile, Lim has applied to discharge himself from bankruptcy.
In response to Jasons' claims, the COC said it has not received any application from Love Foundation to register as a charity.
Its staff visited Love Foundation to look into its fund-raising activities and requested further information, which the Foundation has yet to submit.
The COC added that its decision to prohibit Jasons and Love Foundation from conducting fund-raising appeals is independent of the on-going investigation.
It said Jasons is an undischarged bankrupt and he is the key representative of Love Foundation which he founded, and his wife is the sole director.
As such, "the COC considers him and the company as not fit and proper persons".
So it is necessary to bar them from conducting fund-raising appeals in order to protect the public interest. - CNA /ls
|
