Police are investigating allegations of fraud made against the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) by its former chief executive Andy Knott. In damning allegations, he claims the charity’s fundraising had been misleading, and has accused it of sacrificing its policy goals “at the altar of political interference”.
A spokesperson for Surrey Police told Civil Society, “We have received a report relating to allegations of fraud offences on 10 June. An investigation into these allegations in underway and enquiries remain ongoing”.
Ongoing saga tearing apart LACS
This is the latest installment of an ongoing saga, first reported in The Telegraph, concerning Knott’s filing of an employment tribunal claim against the charity which seems to be in internal turmoil.
Knott claims he was unfairly dismissed as LACS’s CEO. He also alleges the charity neglected to pay him for his three-month notice period, did not send over his P45 for ten weeks, and left him with unpaid holiday pay.
Labour’s 'political interference’
His anger is directed at not only LACS but also the Labour Party, which Knott claims was “interfering in the strategy and operations of the charity”. According to Knott, Labour promised to close “all loopholes” in hunting laws but the party’s manifesto promises only to ban trail hunting – something he described as a “betrayal”.
Under fire is newly-elected Labour MP Dan Norris, who unseated Jacob Rees-Mogg in North East Somerset and Hanham on 4 July and was formerly chair of LACS’s Board of Trustees. Knott has alleged that Norris told him Labour would implement a full ban on hunting if elected, but refused to include it in the election manifesto in case it “would be seen as part of a class war and viewed unfavourably by rural voters”.
If true, this was a plan to deliberately and grossly mislead the British electorate.
Dan Norris MP, who allegedly asked Knott not to criticise Labour for backing down on a total hunting ban.
Norris allegedly personally asked Knott not to publicly criticise Labour for backing down on a total hunting ban. According to The Telegraph, the latter’s legal claim alleges that he was then victimised because he blew the whistle on these underhand dealings between Labour and the charity, and was left with little option but to quit his role at LACS in March. On the back of it all, a “trusted colleague” apparently told him he was “not fit to be in the League”.
As a charity, LACS must be completely apolitical in its dealings. A spokesperson for the charity has said, “The League is governed by rules that ensure we are apolitical in every aspect of our work, which in practice means we ask every party the same thing – to help us protect animals from persecution through so-called sport”.
However, Knott describes LACS as an “empty vessel of the Labour party”.