Justin Forsyth hits out at newspaper over allegations
A spat has broken out between Save the Children UK and a national newspaper.
The international aid agency hit out at The Sun over a story claiming the charity paid £700,000 to an advertising agency co-founded by the brother of Justin Forsyth (pictured) – the charity’s chief executive.
However, the charity hit back saying its relationship with the ad agency Adam & Eve predated Forsyth’s appointment in July 2010.
Under the headline "Charity’s £700k to bro’s ad firm – Save the Children boss shells out for family’s agency", the paper says that Adam & Eve is run by Jon Forsyth - one of four founding partners.
Save the Children said it appointed the charity three months before Forsyth, from Paisley, joined and was part of an open and transparent process which involved six other bidders.
Its latest annual report shows the charity paid £730,000 to the agency in 2014.
A Save the Children spokesman said: "Save the Children’s relationship with Adam & Eve pre-dates Justin Forsyth working at the charity and it has been consistently and openly declared.
“It started after a thorough competitive tender process overseen by an external third party, and Mr Forsyth has no input in awarding any contracts to Adam & Eve."
The spokesman said the story misrepresented the transparent nature of the relationship between the charity and the agency.
It is not the first time Forsyth, a former aide to ex-prime minister Tony Blair, has courted controversy over his contacts.
In March this year he was forced to apologise for the charity bestowing Tony Blair with a humanitarian award after more than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for it to be rescinded – including 500 of its one staff.
The charity was also recently embroiled in the Olive Cooke fundraising scandal, being named as one of the charities which had allegedly pressurised the former poppy seller into making donations.
It has since reviewed its fundraising policies and has stated it will no longer cold call members of the public.
