Pavarotti pulls out of War Child project

After allegations of corruption against two members of War Child, Luciano Pavarotti walked out of the charity

By Marie-Helene Verney, CNN Senior Producer

LONDON, England -- Tenor Luciano Pavarotti has walked out of the London-based charity War Child after allegations of corruption and financial irregularities during the construction of a music center for Bosnian children to which he has given his name.

A joint investigation by Britain's Guardian newspaper and Channel 4 News has discovered that two senior members of the charity accepted money, allegedly a bribe, while working in Bosnia.

War child's co-founder, Bill Leeson, and consultant Mike Terry are said to have accepted $10,000 in 1996 from the main contractor who built the Pavarotti Music Centre in Mostar. The two offered to share the proceeds with the center's directors, who refused and alerted the trustees, according to reports.

The center was built to help children caught in the Bosnian war -- some wounded, others made orphans and others who were psychologically traumatized by the conflict. Music was to be used as a therapy to help them resume normal lives.

The center was named for Pavarotti after the opera singer helped raise more than $10 million for War Child.

Pavarotti also persuaded some of show business' biggest names to perform in concerts and donate royalties for the charity. Their ranks included Elton John, Bono, Eric Clapton and the Spice Girls.

Pavarotti resigned from the charity because he "did not want to be associated with anything that was corrupt, and wanted every dollar that he had raised to be accounted for," a spokeswoman for the singer said.

Another high-profile patron, David Bowie, has also quit.

Britain's Charity Commission has now started an inquiry into the running of War Child UK. The inquiry is looking at allegations of bribery in Bosnia, excessive administrative expenditure and staff members taking trips abroad to visit projects and attend fund-raising concerts.

War Child's new trustees acknowledge past irregularities in the charity's administration, but say they now are undergoing restructuring the organization and its spending.

War Child UK was set up in the mid-1990s and has become one of Britain's leading charities. It also runs projects in Africa and South America.

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