Almost two years on, we are still waiting for accounts, draft or final, from Praful Patel, pictured, Chairman of The India Overseas Trust 40th Anniversary Celebration Committee. In June 2013, this Committee organised a thanksgiving launch event at Leicester Cathedral to commemorate the 40thanniversary of the expulsion of Ugandan Asians. The keynote speaker at this event was Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
The final in a series of events organised by this Committee was the unveiling of a plaque at Stansted Airport in November 2013. The plaque was officially unveiled by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Petre. During this period, readers may recall, we ran a series of articles in this newspaper, also in our sister publication Gujarat Samachar about these, and related events, but with a particular focus on the funds raised and spent in the name of charity. Hence our repeated requests to Mr Patel for the Committee accounts, draft or final. In December 2013, we received a letter from Mr Patel, in his words, “a formal notice of my intention to commence legal action”. This led us to believe that Mr Patel already had a lot on his plate, so to speak, and perhaps it was unfair to demand the accounts so quickly.
However, we do feel that almost two years is a reasonable timeframe for Mr Patel and his team to organise the accounts. From whom the funds came from is of course of interest, but more important, we feel, is how the public money has been spent. Therefore we wish to renew our call for these accounts, specifically those of The India Overseas Trust 40thAnniversary Celebration Committee, entirely from the perspective of the public purse and in the whole interest of the public, transparency and openness. Is this a reasonable request? Please e-mail your thoughts, comments, viewpoints to [email protected]
