A charity which governed a long-defunct Aberdeen residential school has still not been wound-up – and regulators say its accounts are “overdue” by three-and-a-half years.
It was announced in May last year that the trust which oversaw the former Oakbank School was finally being dissolved, a decade after the facility for children with emotional and behavioural problems was shut down.
But the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has confirmed that the charity remains active more than a year later.
The watchdog also said the trust had failed in its duty to submit its accounts and that its financial documents were now 1,294 days overdue.
Former city councillor Willie Young, who is chairman of the Oakbank Trust, admitted last night that it had been an “incredibly difficult” process but that its solicitors had been instructed to complete the winding up of the charity.
Around 100 staff were made redundant when Oakbank School on Midstocket Road closed in the summer of 2008 because of debts and failing referrals.
Now an upmarket housing development, the site was sold to city-based developer Carlton Rock in a deal worth £7 million, plus land near Kingswells valued at £1 million and earmarked for a replacement school.
Council chiefs later took legal action to recover cash for former employee pensions and an agreement was reached for £4 million to be given to the local authority pension fund.
Last night, a spokesman for OSCR said: “Every year charities need to send us financial information.
“When a charity fails in its duty to submit accounts to us, as Governors of the Oakbank School Trust has done, a notification will appear on their entry on the Scottish Charity Register.
“We also engage with charities who are significantly late to try and achieve compliance.”
The spokesman added: “Governors of the Oakbank School Trust told us some time ago that they intended to wind-up. However, we still await further action on their part.”
Asked about the dissolution, Mr Young said: “We have informed OSCR that we are in the process of winding up the trust.
“This has become an incredibly difficult process but we are pleased to confirm that the trust has instructed our solicitors Pinsent Mason to complete the winding up process.
“It is a matter of fact that the Oakbank Trust is no longer in a position to fulfil its charitable trust obligations given it no longer has a school.
“We continue to work with OSCR and others to wind up the charity as quickly as possible.”
