to think Camila Batmanghelidjh must be lying when she says she has done nothing wrong in her spending of Kid's Company Charity Funding?

[LuluJakey1]

She is like Jimmy Saville in that what she has been doing has been under all of all our noses and we have refused to speak up about it or believe it.

It is not just the luvvies who have been up close and personal with her- involved with the charity and CB at a very close level, some even Trustees. It is also the employees and the parents of children, the children themselves, the volunteers. We are not talking about a hidden mis-use of funding. We are talking aout a whole culture of open waste and self-indulgence.

I know it is from The Daily Mail but it is actually an interview with het.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3199527/My-heart-clear-says-Kids-Company-boss-Batmanghelidjh-admits-charity-paid-school-fees-employees-children-denies-wrongdoing.html

£5000 a month rent on an Art Deco House with private swimming pool - which houses a member of staff, and the swimming pool is used by CB but hot by any children- they are 'not allowed' (her words)

£40,000 chauffeur- now a specialist worker (according to CB). also has private school and therapist funding for his 2 children.

Staff( how many?) have their children sent to private schools because the job is stressful and it is part of a 'staff well-being package'

The Chauffeur's sister is also employed - now as a 'brilliant accountant', last summer as 'the woman who does my sewing' (mind you that would be a full-time job in itself, but it does imply the charity pays for those vile outfits much as I suspected)

25 young people given £769,000 a year funding - £31,000 a year each, to do nothing. They are CB's specially selected young people- many of whom have received funding for many years. She describes them as 'like a family, hanging round the house'. She deals with their funding herself.

Yet STILL CB complains staff should not have spoken up about any of this and implies those who have will suffer for it.

In my view this woman and her behaviours are corrupt, dishonest and immoral.

Are my views unreasonable? I feel this could be jus the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is yet to emerge and prosecutions will be very likely.

I think there should be a down- to the -bone, in-depth investigation of every aspect of the work of this charity and of CB. Not simply any concerns that have now been raised but a complete trawl of the spending, the practices and the behaviours of CB herself.

The sad thing about this case is that I am sure CB does have a lot to offer. But she should never have been in charge of a charity (especially one that was responsible for so much money and so many children's lives). It is a shame that her strengths weren't put to good use while avoid the risks inherent in that sort of personality.

(though I did critique it fully in the appendices for the eagle-eyed academics out there )

The difference is that CB has not acted alone. She is not solely responsible (there are trustees, auditors, staff etc etc) and her intention has not been to harm. She was incompetent not malicious.

JS's intention was sexual gratification.

Completely different.

THIS. And also what homehelpmegawd said. You deserve the pasting you're getting for the Savile thing OP. Also, I don't think accusing her of lying is necessarily very helpful here. It's quite possible that CB genuinely believes everything she's done is entirely justified, and is therefore telling the truth, whilst simultaneously being totally wrong. One of the criticisms that's been levelled against her is that she should've accepted she didn't have the expertise on the managerial and financial side, and got some people in who did. That is, that she was negligent because her ego got in the way. She doesn't actually have to be lying to be massively at fault here.

Lastly, I've known Iranians much younger than she is who aren't sure of their exact birth date. It's not that uncommon.

I also think it's quite possible she does 'know' something about various establishment child sex abuse stuff. She's been very well connected for years, knows a lot of people, probably party to a lot of rumours and open secrets. Not to the extent that she'd be telling the police anything they don't know though. Just that she's an idea who the next one will be. And she's exaggerating that because she's cornered and somewhat self important anyway- I say this without making any comment on whether she's done anything wrong wrt KC.

Savile didn't act alone, a lot of people/organisations gave him positions of power and access, and/or turned a blind eye to things they really should have reported because he was the saintly person who you didn't question or upset. There are a lot of accounts from victims who did report what happened and were told to shut up. Organisations and friends in high places allowed him to do what he did, even though as individuals many people involved probably didn't realise the extent of it.

Chaya Your find from the Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/04/time-management-tips-busy-people

is staggering. She has 7 full- time PAs and spends her time playing with plastic helicopters????????

And on top of that she either thinks this makes her somehow 'cool and different' or has no idea how wasteful and self-indulgent she sounds.

So now we have:
1st April 2015-1st August 2015 KC gets 7.2 million in government grants
CB salary £90,000+ per year
7 full-time PAs paid for by KC for CB
Company car paid for by KC for CB
Personal chauffeur for CB salary £40,000+ per year
Chauffeur's children have private speech and language therapists paid for By KC and private school fees as 'staff well-being package because job is stressful'
Chauffeur's sister employed firstly as CB's personal 'lady who does my sewing' creating hideous outfits at charity expense, then as 'highly skilled lawyer' by CB.
Other senior staff have their children's private school fees paid for by KC as part if 'staff well- being package' as role is stressful.
25 hand chosen young adults who are KC clients long-term, are looked after secially by CB and have £795,000 given to them in a year(£31,000) each, to hang around KC doing nothing.
£5000 per month spent renting an Art Deco building with a private swimming pool. Children not allowed to use it. but CB uses it and member of her staff lives in the house.

Every day more emerges about this woman and her operation of this charity that is completely disgraceful. God knows what is yet to come.

And I would love to know how much of the funding given to KC has gone on those outfits.

CB has megalomaniac tendencies IMO. She's still not getting that what she's done is wrong legally (most probably) and morally. It could also be that she's a high functioning narc. Either way, she's a wicked, dangerous woman.

I just lold lady who does my sewing jeez

I don't think it's really possible to say she's not lying now. The thing about the school fees and the pool, she outright denied them at first, then admitted them when faced with evidence.

I can see what the OP means about JS as well. The aim was different, but the MO of covering it up was entirely the same. Doing 'good works' which they believed made them immune from scrutiny and criticism. And to a certain extent they were right. Someone dredged up an old thread from 2012 the other day and everyone was saying how awesome she was, any dissenters were crucified.

God, that article, the stuff she says about going home with bags of jumbled paperwork, no wonder the place was a shambles.

Jimmy Savile sexually abused and raped hundreds of young children often while they were in hospital and abused the most vulnerable children those in care, he raped a number of women, he helped other abusers to commit the most awful crimes against children and he was also into necrophilia

Although I feel CB has done wrong much of it driven I believe by her ego she shouldn't be compared to a man who has committed such terrible terrible crimes that cause lasting pain

Savile didn't have trustees and staff working for the same organisation as him, though, and there is no evidence that CBs intent has been to harm. Those are vital distinctions.

Also, I don't think you're helping your point complaining about CBs salary either OP. To do a job like running KC properly requires a very high level of skill and experience. People who can do that don't grow on trees, as this whole fiasco illustrates: because I think at a minimum, we can say she's been a poor manager. They typically require a certain level of compensation for their work, and as plenty of posters on the various threads about KC have pointed out, often people most skilled at running a charity are the hard headed, in it for the money businesspeople rather than the bleeding heart liberals. Basically, it's not unusual for a charity with this level of turnover to have and need someone on 90k, it's a 90k job. The problem is that CB doesn't seem to have actually been doing it.

I think the point is LazyLohan that OP feels CB can't be lying about having done nothing wrong. That's not really the best way to look at it, because it means that if CB genuinely feels she's done nothing wrong, she isn't lying when she says that. But most of us feel the bar should be set a bit higher than whether she thinks she acted appropriately!

Massive witch hunt fuelled by Daily Mail 'facts'. Behave yourselves

I stand by the comparison with Saville absolutely. It was about someone in a public position, working with children whose concerning behaviours have been known about and let go unquestioned, despite concerns having been raised. The concerns are about appropriate use of public funding, possible mis-use of funds, following regulations and safe practices in reporting the safeguarding of children and young people and the staff of the charity.

I listed my points of comparison in an earlier post and I stand by every one of them.

It is my belief that young people have been put at risk by her behaviours.

She is a self- indulgent, foolish woman who has been allowed far too much freedom and lack of accountability. She has lst her aility to see herself and her behaviours objectively and appears to think she should not be subject to the same scrutiny as others.

I am a Designated Teacher for Child Protection in a huge comp. If I was told that:
a) Members of staff had been assaulted by students with snooker balls

or

b) Students had been sexually propositioned and offered alcohol and drugs by a volunteer working in the school

I can guarantee I would follow the procedures I am required to follow-

1. Social services, Child Protection officer at local authority and police all involved immediately..
2. Full and frank disclosure of all known information and co-operation with the investigation.
3. Any staff/volunteer involved would be suspended immediately while investigated.

I would be sacked if I did not do so. Yet CB seems to have been allowed to make up her own rules. There are no different rules for investigating allegaions against staff, volunteers or children. It is the first rule of safeguarding- it matters more than anything and the rules are followed- your personal feelings do not matter, you follow the rules and nothing is hushed up- absolutely nothing.

stateoftheart I am no fan of the Mail but a 'witch hunt' is how the murderers of Stephen Lawrence described their treatment by the Mail. It was that 'witch-hunt' which led to their eventual prosecution and prison sentences - a fact recognised by the judge.

They are not always wrong.

I am really disappointed with CB.she and her Kids Company were feted by the media.
On Jimmy Saville - I wish somebody in Ireland would investigate his activities there.He was involved with the Central Remedial Clinic ( charity walks etc) and would have had access to vulnerable children/ young adults I think.

It might seem like a witch hunt, but the bigger picture is that organisations like Kids Company were/are supposed to replace state services.

Cameron may no longer be promoting 'the big society', but he isn't offering anything else . (And all political parties have been guilty of jumping on the KC PR bandwagon).

Savile was not CB and there are big differences, of course, obviously.

What is comparable is the not acting alone part. The fact that organisations and state services (hospitals, BBC) enabled him to get into very privileged positions where he could be above the normal rules and perpetuate abuse. The actual abuse was the acting alone part, I get that. But he wouldn't have been able to do so much for so long if it wasn't for that blind-eye turning and letting him escape without the proper scrutiny.

The same thing appears to have happened with CB - the rules didn't apply and her friends in high places refused to hear of any wrongdoing.

What she or KC may actually have done wrong – yet to be investigated fully – doesn't have to be the same as what Savile did wrong. It's about that phenomenon of making someone charismatic flavour of the month (/decade) and not subjecting them to the proper scrutiny.

Thing is she had free reign to act how shewanted scanning brains giving little envelopes of money having her special clients nobody questioned nobody moderated and nobody really cared she conned money out of people she needed a butler to pick up all the names she dropped and she was celebrated its not right is it ?

Holly,
Contact Matt or Miles Gossett
He exposed Savile.
I've read 'In plain sight' which is well written but harrowing. I would not recommend it.
He is also behind KC exposure.
Victims Need To Be Heard.
Someone else will correct the name but that might be first point of call.

Yes, the Guardian article from 2012 is staggering. Aside from the SEVEN PAs (is that a typo!?), her flippant statement that she heads home "carrying a multicoloured laundry bag full of papers, filed in a manner incomprehensible to everyone – including myself" is pretty shocking with hindsight.

And advocates stealing from hotels if anyone can find the link.

To the poster who wrote that Place2Be is part of Kids Company, this is INCORRECT.

Camilla B was one of the founders of Place2Be, around 20 years ago. Very soon (I believe within a year) there was a falling out about what the charity should be doing and CB left and started Kids Company. Thre is now no connection between the two charities at all, hasn't been for many many years.

Place2Be's model is very very different to Kids Company's. P2B have counsellors based in primary schools (and some secondary schools now) proving counselling to troubled children. They also provide some parenting classes. Outcomes are measures. No cash is ever given out.

Rockytoptennessee

I am aware of the history of CB. We should always be aware of people whose ego overtakes the fundamentals of the charitable cause they say they support.

Place2Be has always used outreach workers - and that involves others evaluating the work undertaken. The outreach model also allows information and advice to be given to the charity so that it can grow and shift to best meet the needs of the children/families.

Kids Club has not used any of these models. It has a top-down, individual-led, self-centred modus operandi.