The former president and assistant treasurer of the nation’s peak Muslim body have been stood down by their board amid an audit into alleged financial irregularities at the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
Ikebal Patel, the former president and current vice-president of AFIC and the assistant treasurer Ashraf Ali were suspended after an executive committee meeting on December 9, and an external auditor brought in to examine the use of hundreds of thousands of dollars of the organisation’s funds.
Mr Patel was also suspended from the boards of all AFIC schools pending an investigation into millions of dollars in funds being charged by AFIC to Muslim schools of which he was also a board member.
Mr Patel has denied any wrongdoing.
President of the organisation Hafez Kassem, who took over from Mr Patel earlier this year, wrote to state council members last month warning of “irregularities” with AFIC accounts after an internal audit.
Mr Kassem said AFIC - also known as Muslims Australia - now had an auditor working on the books.
“We are waiting for auditors before we can know the outcome of the investigation.”
Mr Patel said the meeting had not followed the constitution of the organisation.
“I do not believe there was a vote. The meeting did not follow the constitution of AFIC.”
“I have a copy of all claims. I have been asking them to show me any claims that they feel is unaccounted for . . . but I do not have anything yet.”
Mr Ali could not be contacted for comment.
The investigation will also look into payments from Muslim schools to AFIC.
The Australian revealed AFIC had been wrongly charging Australia’s largest Muslim school, Malek Fahd in Sydney’s southwest, millions in “management fees” and backdated rent.
Mr Patel was the chairman of the board of directors of Malek Fahd and president of AFIC at the time the payments were made.
Malek Fahd received just under $20 million, or 80 per cent of its funding, from the commonwealth and state governments, including $5.1m from the Gillard government’s Building the Education Revolution funding for the construction of a school hall.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli eventually froze the school’s funding and forced it to repay $9m in state government funds given to the school.
Probes by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and NSW Police have also been launched into the school’s finances.
The Canberra Islamic School also became the target of a commonwealth investigation after revelations Mr Patel’s son-in-law had received a contract worth almost $300,000 to build a security fence at the school under the federal government’s Safer Schools program.