Why is Alan Yentob still in charge of a seven-figure programme budget at the BBC? It’s a question that Yentob’s friend, BBC chief Lord Hall, should have asked himself a long time ago. It should be asked this week because Yentob is entangled in an Insolvency Service investigation which may be about to come to an end.
As part of its ongoing inquiry into the notorious charity Kids’ Company, which Yentob chaired for 12 years until it closed in August 2015, the Insolvency Service has reportedly offered Yentob a deal. He has apparently been asked to accept by 20 December a five-year ban from holding any company directorships. If he does so, a line will be drawn under his part in the affair as far as the Insolvency Service is concerned. If he refuses, formal disqualification proceedings will begin and Yentob may be forced to go to court.
Given that Kids Company burned through the best part of £50 million of public money in a range of highly questionable ways during its lifetime, some might say Yentob, as the effective money man of the organisation, would be getting off lightly if he accepted the Insolvency Service’s offer.
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