The Benlian Trust
Armenian educational and cultural trust; Israel is a register area but no Israel spending is reported
| The Benlian Trust
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Other |
| Founded | 1979-02-26 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 277253 |
| Headquarters | Po Box 7340, London, W1A 3XE |
| Area served | Throughout England, France, Israel, Turkey |
The Benlian Trust was created by the will of Edward Ezepos Benlian (proved 19 March 1974; scheme of 29 April 1992) and registered on 26 February 1979; register areas are England, France, Israel and Turkey.[1] Its purposes are the education in England of the children of Armenian fathers, London Armenian cultural life and medical causes named in the will. The trustees are V Gulbenkian, A Selian Matian, S Simons (chair) and R Vartoukian, and its address is PO Box 7340, London W1A 3XE (PDF p.2, 4–5).[2] In the nine months to 31 March 2025 income was £279,546, including a £190,000 legacy, and funds were £5,585,058 (PDF p.4, 11–12).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "THE EDUCATION IN ENGLAND OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF ARMENIAN FATHERS. FOR EDUCATION OR OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES CONNECTED WITH CULTURAL LIFE. FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF MEDICAL REASEARCH. (FOR FURTHER DETAILS SEE WILL)."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Granting scholarships to Armenian students attending university in England; making grants to Armenian organisations for cultural activities for the benefit of the London Armenian Community; and making charitable donations in accordance with the terms of the Will of the benefactor under which the Trust Fund was created."[1]
Register classifications: Education/training, Arts/culture/heritage/science.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England, France, Israel, Turkey.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandi Linda Simons | 2006-06-01 | Mihran Essefian Charitable Trust (Also Known As the Mihran and Azniv Essefian Charitable Trust) (275074) | |
| Rita Alice Vartoukian | 2006-06-01 | Mihran Essefian Charitable Trust (Also Known As the Mihran and Azniv Essefian Charitable Trust) (275074); Saint Sarkis Charity Trust (215352) | |
| Dr Audrey Nathalie Selian Matian | 2011-06-14 | — | |
| Vergine Gulbenkian | 2014-06-04 | Mihran Essefian Charitable Trust (Also Known As the Mihran and Azniv Essefian Charitable Trust) (275074); The Gurdjieff Society (207480) |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-06-29 | £155,949 | £234,835 |
| 2022-06-29 | £170,537 | £235,997 |
| 2023-06-29 | £1,043,149 | £91,920 |
| 2024-06-29 | £150,717 | £96,470 |
| 2025-03-31 | £279,546 | £146,487 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Archived accounts
Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2007[7]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2008[8]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2009[9]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2010[10]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2011[11]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2014[12]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2015[13]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2016[14]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2017[15]
- Accounts for the year ended 29/06/2018[16]
Funding in Israel
- No spending in Israel is reported. Period grants were Armenian House £8,000, Armenian Language Saturday Studies £8,000, K Tahta Sunday School £8,000, UCH Charities £4,000, Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital Istanbul £4,000, Tebrotzaserre Paris £4,000 and London Armenian Opera £3,000, plus scholarships of £44,725 to ten students (PDF p.5, 16).[2]
Israeli partners
No Israeli partner is identified.[2]
Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No activity in Israel is reported. | Not established |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]
Controversies and regulatory action
- No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[17] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[18][19][20][21] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[22]
- Israel on the register only. Although Israel is a register area, the accounts report no spending in or for Israel; grants went to Armenian causes in London, Istanbul and Paris (PDF p.16).[2][1]
Other registers and records
Scotland and Northern Ireland
No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 15 October 2026, downloaded 15 October 2026 and searched by name).[23] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[24]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[25]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[26]
Sanctions screening
The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[27]
Land and property
The register records that the charity owns and/or leases land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[28] Candidate titles and addresses (CCOD dataset and register/accounts data):[29]
- Property funds of £54,054 held within the investment portfolio; no directly held property is described – Accounts (PDF p.17); the register records that the charity owns and/or leases land (source: accounts)
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Benlian Trust", "Benlian" returned 0 contributions in total.[30]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[5]
See also
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Charity Commission, The Benlian Trust (277253): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 15 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ Register entry 277253, contact and trustees (capture of 20100711) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Register entry 277253, contact and trustees (capture of 20120121) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Register entry 277253, full print (capture of 20210112) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Register entry 277253, full print (capture of 20210704) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2007-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120118).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2008-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120118).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2009-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120118).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2010-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120118).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2011-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120118).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2014-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2015-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2016-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2017-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ The Benlian Trust accounts, year ended 2018-06-29 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-10 charities, all retrieved successfully on 15 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; alerts were shown only for Solev Co Limited (254623) and Lehachyos (1170523).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date), both retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026, downloaded October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-10 charity names and their other names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 15 October 2026 (keyword searches for each batch-10 charity name returned no relevant result; the search for "Kosov" returned only an unrelated removed charity, Kosova Support Group, showing that the API was answering).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Benlian Trust' The Gazette, searched 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-277253 360Giving, queried 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-10 screening covered 337 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the charitable companies and of related companies named in the accounts (including Pinlee Investments, Calvert Estates, Kendleville, Pidom Export, Faircastle, Hatzlocho, Localtrent, Ardina, Ridgesave, Portford, Wilkincroft and Pandor Estates), and trustees, lenders, donor companies and grant recipients named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; the only token matches were generic company words ("Services Limited" in the name of a corporate secretary) and surname-only coincidences; lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, UK companies that own property in England and Wales (CCOD) and Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales (OCOD) full extracts, October 2026 release, matched on charitable company numbers, registered names and the names of subsidiaries named in the accounts; title numbers listed are candidates only – no title registers were purchased.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Benlian Trust" Hansard, queried 15 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).