AN MLA is to seek a fresh Charity Commission investigation into Action Renewables following damning evidence at the RHI inquiry.
The green energy firm, a registered charity, knew of serious flaws in the RHI scheme from its inception but did not warn Stormont officials, the inquiry heard.
It earned almost £250,000 advising on around a quarter of all RHI applications, and it told Invest NI clients in consultant reports it was "not wrong" to run RHI boilers longer than necessary for greater returns.
But last year the Charity Commission concluded that Action Renewables (AR) was operating "within charity law", saying its trustees "stated that they were not aware of anything being wrong with the scheme when it was in operation".
Read more:
- RHI: Action Renewables director Michael Doran 'comfortable' with flawed scheme's launch
- RHI: Action Renewables, RHA and Michael Doran
- Renewable energy charity paid to process a quarter of all RHI applications
- 'Unacceptable' that renewable energy charity did not relay RHI concerns
The probe came after The Irish News highlighted how AR processed RHI applications despite its chief executive Michael Doran's knowledge of the absence of cost controls.
At the time Mr Doran said it would have been "ethically improper" for it to relay concerns to Stormont about the government-funded RHI scheme due to its applications to the scheme on behalf of clients.
On Wednesday, RHI inquiry chair Sir Patrick Coghlin said to Mr Doran that the "inescapable inference is you were misleading the charity commissioners".
Mr Doran replied: "It would appear from this document, yes."
The initial Charity Commission probe was launched following a complaint by Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson.
Following Wednesday's RHI inquiry hearing, Mr Dickson said on Twitter he would be "seeking further investigation" from the watchdog.
In a statement, the Charity Commission said it will "carefully consider" the evidence provided to the inquiry.
"For information, it is an offence under section 25 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 to knowingly or recklessly supply the commission with information which is false or misleading," a spokeswoman added.
