The Charity Commission has approved the terms of reference for an independent panel to review the historic financial allegations at the Jewish Leadership Council. 

The panel will be comprised of Dawn Freedman, a retired judge; Derek Zissman, the former vice-chairman of KPMG; and Michael Scott, a solicitor for Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, who specialises in charities.

All three have confirmed they have no conflicts of interest in relation to the JLC, Jeremy Newmark or any of the 2013 trustees or current trustees.

Last month the JC revealed that an internal audit into the conduct of Mr Newmark while he was JLC chief executive reported that he deceived the organisation out of tens of thousands of pounds and misled charities about the cost of projects he worked on.

The JC also revealed that, in order to avoid a scandal, the JLC’s trustees decided to keep Mr Newmark’s alleged behaviour secret and not inform the police.

According to the terms of reference, published this afternoon, the panel will be provided with “all material (correspondence, emails, documents, books and records) in the possession of the JLC relating to the decisions and the financial issues.”

The panel will also be provided with a budget to undertake the review.

A draft report will be produced by the second half of 2018. The final report will be delivered to both the JLC and the Charity Commission.