Brothers 'stole' $355,000 in school funding, court told

as posted here


JOSEPH SAPIENZA
September 8, 2009 - 6:52AM
A school set up for Muslim girls in Kenwick had unqualified teachers, demountable classrooms, run-down equipment as well as heating and air-conditioning deficiencies just as more than $355,000 in grant money was siphoned off to a bank account in Pakistan, the Perth District Court was told yesterday.

Those funds were to help set up a sister school in Afghanistan, but State prosecutors claim the money was provided by Commonwealth and State Governments on the conditions that it was used to maintain the upkeep and quality of the school in WA.

The two men allegedly involved in the overseas funds transfer, Anwar Sayed, 50, and his younger brother, Zubair, 33, were directors of a company called Muslim Link Australia Limited - which established the Muslim Ladies College of Australia on Bickley Road in Kenwick in 2002.

Both men have been accused of stealing a total of $355,934.10 in April 2007 from the company's account and sending the funds to Pakistan.

In his opening address to the jury, prosecutor Alan Troy said Zubair Sayed went to the Commonwealth Bank branch in Cannington with a cheque to be converted into a bank draft, so the money could be sent to an account that Anwar Sayed - who was overseas at the time - had access to.

The school started receiving public funding in 2005 and continued for about two and a half years.

The court was told that as the money was coming in, it was not being spent on the school because it was in a "very poor condition".

The government agencies followed up on the grants to see how they were being spent, and the deteriorating conditions of the school were discovered.

After the third of seven government inspections of the school, the accused men then "acted in concert and depleted half the school's bank balance by withdrawing half the money", Mr Troy said.

He added the men had acted dishonestly and stole from the company when they knew the grants were intended for the Kenwick school only.

Months later, the cheque butt was located by a staff member at the school, with the butt showing the funds were intended for Anwar Sayed to set up a sister school in Kabul.

"Anwar Sayed counselled and procured his brother to get the funds," Mr Troy said.

"Each of the accused was aware of the central nature of the conditions to the grants and funds and each was aware of the transfer that took place on April 16, 2007," he said.

The State said it could not confirm where the $355,000 went, but even if it did go towards the establishment of an Afghan school, "it was utterly contrary to the conditions" attached to the distribution of public funds.

The court was told that by the date of the withdrawal, the balance in the account was $683,925.85 - a "rather more healthy" figure than the $13,000 that was in the school's coffers in January 2005.

From that date onwards, the balance "gradually increased over two and a half years" due to the public funding.

Mr Troy said while the bank account increased, the money was not being used to run the Kenwick school's operations.

He told the jury one witness would describe the "dilapidated" condition of the school later in the trial.

Teachers would also give evidence that unqualifed people would be employed to teach, while staff would need to photocopy textbooks to bring to school for students and were not paid what they were entitled to.

Staff even had to buy their own resources while the remote control for the air-conditioning was taken away from teachers to save energy in summer, Mr Troy said.

The prosecutor argued it would have been "palpably obvious to the two accused that the school required every cent at its disposal to flourish".

"It was obvious to the two accused that they were in no capacity to spend half the available funds on a school seemingly in Afghanistan, when they knew the school was not in great condition," he said.

Defence lawyers for the two men will make their opening submissions today.

The trial is set down for eight days.


as posted here