Wikipedia charity faces investigation over trustee 'conflict of interest' After the deal was signed, Gibraltar-related material was also showcased more than a dozen times in the prized "Did You Know?" section of the Wikipedia front page. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, said the number of times Gibraltar had appeared in the section was "absurd." "Paid advocacy is a scourge against which we must all be vigilant," he said. Both Mr Bamkin and Wikimedia UK denied conflicts of interest, but said he had resigned to "avoid any confusion between Roger's role running projects like Gibraltarpedia and Wikimedia UK projects." Earlier in the year he had also been paid by Monmouthshire County Council to create the world's first "Wikipedia town" by placing QR codes linked to newly-created articles around Monmouth. In online discussions, Mr Bamkin defended himself against allegations he had breached ethical boundaries, insisting "I have to eat." In a joint statement with the Wikimedia Foundation this weekend, however, Wikimedia UK said an independent investigator would examine the claims against Mr Bamkin. This raised questions in the Wikimedia community about whether a trustee [Mr Bamkin] was able to balance appropriately the interests of his clients with his responsibilities to Wikimedia UK, the values and editorial policies of Wikipedia, and whether any conflict of interest that arose as a result was effectively managed. The controversy is the second to rock Wikimedia UK in recent months. In August the chair of the charity's board of trustees, Ashley van Haeften, was forced to resign after The Telegraph reported he had been banned from editing Wikipedia for "numerous violations of Wikipedia's norms and policies." He allegedly mounted personal attacks and posted "highly inappropriate" links in relation to explicit material on Wikipedia. Although he resigned as chair, Mr van Haeften remains on Wikimedia UK's board of trustees. The conflict of interest investigation is expected to take a few weeks. "The goal of both organizations in carrying out this review, and Wikimedia UK's in deciding to absent itself from the 2012 fundraising campaign as a payment processor, is to demonstrate that we mutually recognize the importance of handling conflicts well beyond simple requirements of the law," Wikimedia UK said in a statement.