The disgraced founder of the Kids Company charity – Camila Batmanghelidjh has defended spending £55,000 on one troubled young man – including paying his massage bill at a luxury spa – saying material goods were important for ‘self-esteem’.
She also insisted the charity’s controversial cash handouts to children were not used to buy drugs and instead were spent on utility bills.
The colourful character, who had the ear of three prime ministers and courted wealthy donors before the organisation collapsed in 2015, also revealed that at one point, the charity was paying for 48 advisers in a single Lambeth school.
Camila Batmanghelidjh defended the Kids Company charity’s controversial spending ahead of the publication of her… https://t.co/Gjs1VW5TSP
— Will Corry (@slievemore) September 18, 2017
Describing the case of Dave, a man in his 20s with a drug problem and a long criminal history, she said he was handed to her care when she persuaded a judge to give him a suspended sentence.
After rehab didn’t work and a psychiatric hospital threw him out, she sent Dave to Champneys because he could be supervised there while on anti-psychotic medication and kept away from illegal drugs.