Charity that employs Carrie Johnson paid £150,000 to chairman’s wife

The charity where Carrie Johnson has a job paid more than £150,000 to its chairman’s wife for ‘interior design services’.

The Aspinall Foundation is now facing serious questions after it emerged the large sum is roughly equal to 10% of all donations received last year, MailOnline reported.

An investigation was launched by the Charity Commission over concerns about ‘conflicts of interest and related-party transactions’, according to a statement on the Government website.

The payment to Victoria Aspinall, the wife of Damian Aspinall, who is the chairman of the charity’s trustees, was made last year. It emerged after the charity’s most recent annual statements were published online.

It dates back to before the foundation hired the Prime Minister’s wife, who became its head of communications in January.

Even more, the statements reportedly show the charity took in nearly £1.5 million from public and corporate donors in 2020.

The commission’s probe will look into payments made to Mr Aspinall and other family members in April.

According to reports, Mrs Aspinall was also paid £12,500 for her interior design work back in 2019.

It is unclear what her services entailed, however, just a year later, her fees had reportedly soared to £150,158.

There are four trustees at the foundation aside from Mr Aspinall, whose wealth is estimated to be around £200 million, and his 32-year-old daughter Tansy, who owns a jewellery brand.

They include Tory donor Ben Goldsmith, businessman Robin Birley, fund director Maarten Petermann, and Charles Filmer, owner of investment firm Alvarium.

Alongside the cash paid to Mrs Aspinall, the statements also show the charity had paid tens of thousands of pounds to Alvarium for accountancy work.

Similarly to the interior design services, this fee had risen from £64,000 in 2019 to £124,231 last year, the report states.

Like most charities, which struggled financially during the pandemic, Aspinall took a coronavirus business interruption loan of £2 million from the Government.

According to the accounts, the cash injection was transferred to its sister charity Howletts Wild Animal Trust, which the Charity Commission is also looking into.

Howletts Wild Animal Park was set up as a private zoo near Canterbury, Kent, in 1957 and is home to more than 390 animals.

The Guardian reported that Aspinall Foundation had not responded to a request for comment.

The paper said that at the time of the Charities Commission investigation, a spokesperson for the foundation said: ‘The Aspinall Foundation remains firmly committed to its ethical and legal duties as a charitable body.

‘Our trustees will continue to work openly and transparently with the Charity Commission to ensure best practice governance and compliance.’

Aspinall Foundation did not wish to officially comment on the story.

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