Dear All
It is a time of austerity, of cuts, of hardship.
But one cut I would like to see happening is public money being removed on a permanent basis from the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF).
Not one penny more.
The controversial Islamic lobbying group which has received £400,000 of public money has a record of failure to deliver.
And now it seems it can add a failure to pay its bills to its list.
The Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) has now been deserted by its auditors after failing to pay them.
Wylie & Bisset is owed money for work.
And they can whistle for their chances to be paid.
We should be grateful to Wylie & Bisset because it was their report on the SIF’s 2009 annual accounts which exposed numerous financial shortcomings.
In plain speak; even accountants had trouble finding out where some of the money went!
In a letter to the foundation board, the company said it was severing its links as “fees owed to Wylie & Bisset in respect of the 2009 audit and other professional services supplied to the company remain unpaid”.
So, what should the future of the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) be?
Closure would be a good start, in its last financial year it ended up £4800 in the red.
This lead to the auditors saying that it had “significant doubt” on its ability to continue as a going concern!
Wylie & Bisset also said they were “unable to determine whether adequate accounting records had been kept” or verify the foundation’s income.
Founded in 2008 to much fanfare as a vehicle to improve community relations, the foundation was soon mired in allegations of cronyism.
In 2009, the group was forced to repay £128,000 after failing to deliver an Islamic festival.
On the 21st March 2010, I wrote in a post:
“The smart thing is for this organisation to cease to exist, if you are not going to run it properly don’t run it all”.
George Laird was right again.
It’s time to close the book.
It is a time of austerity, of cuts, of hardship.
But one cut I would like to see happening is public money being removed on a permanent basis from the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF).
Not one penny more.
The controversial Islamic lobbying group which has received £400,000 of public money has a record of failure to deliver.
And now it seems it can add a failure to pay its bills to its list.
The Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) has now been deserted by its auditors after failing to pay them.
Wylie & Bisset is owed money for work.
And they can whistle for their chances to be paid.
We should be grateful to Wylie & Bisset because it was their report on the SIF’s 2009 annual accounts which exposed numerous financial shortcomings.
In plain speak; even accountants had trouble finding out where some of the money went!
In a letter to the foundation board, the company said it was severing its links as “fees owed to Wylie & Bisset in respect of the 2009 audit and other professional services supplied to the company remain unpaid”.
So, what should the future of the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) be?
Closure would be a good start, in its last financial year it ended up £4800 in the red.
This lead to the auditors saying that it had “significant doubt” on its ability to continue as a going concern!
Wylie & Bisset also said they were “unable to determine whether adequate accounting records had been kept” or verify the foundation’s income.
Founded in 2008 to much fanfare as a vehicle to improve community relations, the foundation was soon mired in allegations of cronyism.
In 2009, the group was forced to repay £128,000 after failing to deliver an Islamic festival.
On the 21st March 2010, I wrote in a post:
“The smart thing is for this organisation to cease to exist, if you are not going to run it properly don’t run it all”.
George Laird was right again.
It’s time to close the book.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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