Jean McFadden called charity laws a "mess"

The executive has been accused of ignoring a report which recommended major reforms.

Jean McFadden, a lecturer at Strathclyde University, chaired a report on charity reform commissioned by the executive in 2000.

Ms McFadden told the BBC's The Politics Show programme that it then failed to act on warnings that tighter regulation was needed.

"Charity law in Scotland is in a mess, it's not coherent, there's a whole range of bodies who have some responsibility for charities," she said.

"We made a comprehensive report two years ago and we had hoped that the Scottish Executive would have taken some action by now.

'Action needed'

"We reported in May 2001 and nothing happened.

"My commissioners and I wrote to Jim Wallace, the minister in charge at the time, and asked what action we could expect and there seemed to be some need to do further consultation, which we just couldn't understand."

She believes that if the executive had acted on reforming charity law at the time recent scandals could perhaps have been caught in a regulatory net more quickly.

The executive has insisted that the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator by the end of the year will restore public faith in the charity sector.

The use of charity money has been under scrutiny

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the activities of 56 Scottish charities are the subject of "ongoing enquiries" by the Crown Office.

The Scottish Charities Office deals with complaints about the way charities are run, mostly from members of the public.

It has confirmed that it is currently looking into possible mismanagement in 56 organisations, although a spokeswoman said that very few of them were likely to face court action.

The disclosure follows the decision of the Court of Session to suspend the operation of Moonbeams, a child cancer charity.

The Inland Revenue has also confirmed that it is checking on the registration of all 28,000 charities in Scotland.