Possible terrorist activity among cases
The Charity Commission unit set up to tackle abuse in charities, including possible terrorist activity, was investigating 236 cases at the end of March.
The figure was revealed last week after shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude tabled a parliamentary question about the commission's monitoring of links between charities and extremism.
Third sector minister Kevin Brennan said the commission took a "zero-tolerance approach" to links between charities and terrorism and had last year published a revised counter-terrorism strategy.
Brennan referred to a letter from Andrew Hind, chief executive of the commission, which said the regulator's compliance monitoring unit had 236 "proactive monitoring cases open" as of 31 March.
Since the beginning of 2008, said Hind's letter, the commission "had conducted 15 visits covering the full range of issues and concerns, some of which related to matters of possible criminality and extremism".
A Charity Commission spokeswoman told Third Sector she could not provide any further details of the cases because of the sensitive nature of the unit's work.
The unit, which was set up last year, identifies and monitors abuse in charities, including fraud and financial abuse, risks to vulnerable beneficiaries and the risk of terrorist abuse.
