School founder would have bolted if guilty: lawyer

as posted here

JOSEPH SAPIENZA
September 17, 2009
A man accused of stealing $355,000 from the Perth school he founded would have taken a lot more money and fled Australia if he acted dishonestly, a court has heard.

Anwar Sayed, 50, and his brother Zubair Sayed, 33, are on trial for stealing the money - provided through Federal and State government funding - from the parent company of the Muslim Ladies College, in Kenwick, and siphoning it to an account in Pakistan.

Both have denied stealing the money, claiming the money belonged to Anwar Sayed.

They say that because Sayed had ploughed more than $1 million of his own money into the school, he was legally entitled to withdraw the money from the school's bank account in April 2007 and use it to help set up a sister college in Afghanistan.

Sayed was in Pakistan when the money was transferred, but returned to Perth later that year. The prosecution says the money in dispute was federal and state funding for upkeep of the Kenwick school.

Defence lawyer Mark Trowell, QC, told a Perth District Court jury yesterday that Sayed had taken only about 30 per cent of what he was owed by the school.

Documents showed Sayed deferred his salary and rental income for four years until 2007, while he made cash deposits totalling at least $330,000 to the school, Mr Trowell said.

Sayed also deferred an annual rental income of $289,000 over four years and an average $35,000 a year in salary.

As one of three directors of the company, Sayed was authorised to withdraw funds from the company's account at his discretion, Mr Trowell said.

He added that no effort had been made by the two men to conceal the overseas transfer, as Zubair Sayed had given a bag containing cheque books to a staff member - which included the cheque butt in question - while the other signatory on the cheque "had no objection to the transfer".

The jury is expected to deliver a verdict today.


as posted here