Celebrated Rabbi returns £2.3MILLION to Jewish charities after he held the funds in his own personal accounts for years

A rabbi has agreed to return £2.35million to two Jewish charities after holding the funds in personal accounts for years.

Barry Marcus, 74, a pioneer of Holocaust education, has given back the money following an 18-month investigation by the National Crime Agency.

The former senior rabbi at London's Central Synagogue had been entrusted with large sums of cash by two charities that support educational projects in orthodox Jewish communities.

But inquiries showed he transferred funds to other accounts in Britain and overseas.

Marcus, who was made an MBE in 2015 for his work overseeing educational trips to Auschwitz, was given a parliamentary reception by Michael Gove when he retired in 2018, with the Levelling Up Secretary calling him a 'truly wonderful man'.

The NCA began an investigation in October 2022 after Marcus received more than £1million during the previous nine months that had been intended for the Dailad and Schwarzschild Foundation charities – both of which are under investigation by the Charities Commission.

The agency obtained freezing orders for four UK accounts totalling almost £1.2 million between November 2022 and March last year. Marcus maintained he had distributed a substantial amount of money to the charities but was unable to provide proper documentation to support this, the NCA said. On January 31 he formally agreed to hand £2.35 million to the charities, with Westminster Magistrates' Court varying the freezing orders in March to allow the funds to be returned.

Marcus developed the concept of a one-day educational visit to Auschwitz alongside the Holocaust Educational Trust, which has since taken tens of thousands of schoolchildren to the concentration camp.

He is a former trustee of the Schwarzschild Foundation, which was established to distribute the £5 million estate of Helga Schwarzschild – who fled Nazi Germany for Britain in the 1930s – but resigned last March.

The regulator's inquiry into the charity, opened last June, is examining potential conflicts of interest and 'whether there has been any unauthorised trustee benefit', as well as its distribution of funds and potential misconduct.

The inquiry into Dalaid, which started on the same date, is examining whether funds have been expended solely for charity use and whether there has been mismanagement by those in control.

Upon his retirement, Marcus was given a £275,000 testimonial sum and a rent-free flat in Highgate, north London, by the Devonshire Street Charitable Foundation, which provides assistance to former Central Synagogue rabbis.

His solicitor, David Sonn, said his client co-operated with the NCA from the outset.