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| Sunday, 27 February 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Saudi funds for tsunami swept away Dr. Nasz Haniffa, Director, Sri Lanka Islamic Centre (SLIC) has written to us refuting our news item in this page last Sunday under the above title. We published below his letter in full: "The said irresponsible and misleading news report as reported in the Sunday Observer on 20.02.05 as stated above, has caused a lot of misunderstanding among not only Sri Lankans but all donors and well wishers of the Sri Lanka Islamic Center, internationally. The Sri Lanka Islamic Center (SLIC) has been placed in an embarrassing situation and in great difficulty in carrying out its social obligations "The SLIC a social service organisation which is an incorporated body by an Act of Parliament and has been serving in Sri Lanka for over 35 years under the leadership of senior parliamentarian, M. H. Mohamed. The SLIC, is a counterpart organisation of the Islamic Solidarity Fund, the Islamic Development Bank and the Rabita Al Alami, all based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Upon the tsunami devastation affecting the lives of the Sri Lankans, a group of young professionals volunteered along with some board members of SLIC and made arrangements to dispatch emergency aid to the affected persons. The SLIC had also got in touch with The Islamic Development Bank, who responded positively by sending to Sri Lanka, three officials to assess the need and to make urgent arrangements to grant immediate aid through the SLIC. On the instructions of the Islamic Development Bank, the SLIC called for quotations on goods selected by the officials of the Islamic Development Bank. The SLIC within short notice due to the prevailing tsunami situation called and received 3 quotations. The said quotations were with regard to the emergency relief purchases utilising the monies of the Islamic Development Bank. The team that was present at the time of selecting the quotation were the three members of the Islamic Development Bank who had come to Sri Lanka, two of our Board Members and an official of SLIC. The awarding of the tender on the quotation was done unanimously. At no time was Dr. Ruvaiz Haniffa present at that meeting. 'Later it was found that the other 2 quotations had some irregularity. The SLIC referred the said matter to the Fraud Bureau. This was done even before the news report in the Sunday Observer on February 20, 2005. As the said matter is being investigated, SLIC wil not comment on same and will assist the Fraud Bureau. 'The SLIC vehemently also refutes the misleading and malicious allegations made in the same report, as to a "secret" bank account. We state that we operate and maintain all bank accounts in the name of the SLIC. 'We also specifically refute the statement in the report that "half the SLIC Board Members are the Chairman's relatives". This is factually incorrect. There are 22 members on the Council of Management and the greater majority are not related to the Chairman.' Misuse of tsunami funds by SLIC A Note by the Editor Dr. Nasz Haniffa desperately tried his best to cover-up misuse of tsunami funds in the SLIC and launched a face saving mission of his Father- in-Law UNP MP M. H. Mohamed without clearly answering major issues of misuse of tsunami funds raised by us. The Sunday Observer did not intend to dig more into the SLIC issue. But we are compelled to do so now as Dr. Haniffa described our story as irresponsible and misleading. First of all we must say that Dr.Nasz Haniffa has no authority to act as a Director of the SLIC requesting us to give due publicity to his press release since his appointment has not yet been approved by the Director Board of the SLIC. But we are pleased to answer his letter. However, Dr. Hannifa vehemently refutes our allegation that Chairman M. H. Mohamed is running a secret account at the Maligawatte Hatton National Bank other than the official bank account of the SLIC. Mohamed is the sole authorised signatory to that secret account. He proves us correct because Dr. Haniffa himself is not aware of such an account. We request Dr. Haniffa to check this account number 2372301-7 at the Maligawatte Hatton National Bank branch and find out who is the sole signatory of this account. How can one person be the sole signatory of an account of an association or any other social organisation? We also request him to find out as to why this account has been seized by the Bank now. Even when we contacted Mohomad last week he denied the existence of such an account. The official account of the SLIC at the Maligawatte HNB is 01971017. Former diplomat Dr. Haniffa also came out with a blatant lie that the SLIC complained to the Fraud Bureau before our story was published on February 20, 2005. When the Sunday Observer checked with the Fraud Bureau OIC Erabadugolla told us that the complaint was lodged on February 21, 2005 against Mohamed's Private Secretary M. I. M. Haniffa. Apparently our story has compelled the SLIC to complain to the Police. We also ask from the Director whether he knows how much tsunami funds were used for tsunami victims. Mohamed had withdrawn Rs. 7 million received for tsunami relief assistance from the new account. But only about Rs. 600,000 was spent for relief assistance. However, doubts have also arisen about these transactions too. Some members in the SLIC also question why such a massive amount of Rs. 225,000 has been spent for packing,labour and transport of relief assistance. We also question from Dr. Haniffa whether he was aware that of the Rs. 7 million tsunami funds, Rs. 5.8 million has been spent to purchase a land in Maradana. With other expenses, the cost of the land had come to Rs. 6.1 million. We believe that Dr. Haniffa is aware that local and foreign donors have given this money for the welfare of tsunami victims and not to purchase land in the heart of Colombo. We also like to ask from Dr. Haniffa why Rs. 78,149 tsunami funds were spent to purchase a dinner set for Islamic Development Bank officials. Another Rs. 12,000 has been spent to transport these gifts. Is it ethical to use tsunami funds to purchase gifts spending such an amount of money when the tsunami victims were suffering? Dr. Haniffa also refutes our allegation that half of the SLIC Board members are relatives of Mohamed. There are 21 members in the Board including Mohamed. Of the other 20 members nine are his relatives and many others are his close associates. Nine relations are: Shahul Hameed Mohamed (Son), Hussain Mohamed (Son), Dr. Nasz Haniffa (Son-in-Law), M. I. Fairoze Hameed (Son-in-Law), Ashroff Hussain (Brother-in-Law), Fazal Hameed (Grandson), Hilmy Mohideen (relation), M. T. M. Hamza (relation) and Hussain S. Hashim (relation). Dr. Haniffa charged us that our story has caused a lot of misunderstanding among not only Sri Lankans but also among all donors and well wishers of the SLIC and put the SLIC in an embarrassing situation. But we ask who has misled donors by misusing tsunami funds for other purposes and put the SLIC in an embarrassing situation. We also would like to ask why Mohamed sent his driver and security guard on Thursday to the SLIC to take all files to his home. |
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