Malaysian prosecutors yesterday laid charges against a second member of an Islamic conglomerate accused of running charity homes where children were allegedly abused on a massive scale.
Reuters reported that businessman Mohamad Riza Makar, 39, pleaded not guilty to witness intimidation after allegedly threatening a former employee of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) to withdraw a police report. According to the charge sheet, the details of which were widely published in the press, Mohamad Riza is accused of telling the 25-year-old woman, “We know where your house, husband, and family are.”
A businessman with three wives and 10 children, Mohamad Riza was released on bail of 10,000 ringgit ($2,360). If convicted of the criminal intimidation charge, he could face up to two years in prison.
The charge is part of a ramifying investigation into a network of charity homes allegedly run by GISBH, which investigators believe has links to Al Arqam, a banned Islamic cult. On September 11, Malaysian police rescued more than 400 children, aged one to 17 from welfare homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, where the children were allegedly victims of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their caretakers.
The children are not orphans, as previously claimed, but the children of GISBH members who were placed in the organization’s care for the purposes of indoctrination.
According to the SCMP, which cited former GISBH members, the victims “were allegedly separated from their families, who were not allowed to care for their children for fear of undermining their loyalty to the group.” After last week’s raids, police revealed they were investigating allegations that 13 of the rescued children were sodomized.
Police have since arrested a total of 171 suspects aged between 17 and 64, including a teacher and dorm caretakers. A 19-year-old preschool employee linked to GISBH was charged last week with four counts of child abuse and neglect.
As part of the investigation, Malaysian authorities have frozen bank accounts belonging to GISBH, which according to media reports, is believed to own assets in at least seven countries worth an estimated 325 million ringgit ($76.6 million).
GISBH initially denied the accusations, describing the claims of child abuse as part of an “agenda to bring down the image” of its business. “We deny all accusations because the said shelters are clearly not under the management of GISBH,” the group said. “It is not our policy to plan and implement things against Islamic sharia and national laws.”
However, GISBH chief executive Nasiruddin Ali, while calling the police’s allegations “disgusting,” has since admitted that the firm did run the care homes and acknowledged “one or two cases of sodomy.”
GISBH is believed to have close links to the Al Arqam sect, which was banned by Malaysia’s religious authorities in 1994 for deviant practices. The sect was founded in the late 1960s by Ashaari Muhammad, whose followers claimed he had supernatural powers and could communicate directly with the Prophet Muhammad. According to an explainer by BenarNews, Ashaari envisioned creating a self-sufficient Islamic community that would practice a purer form of the faith. Polygamy was widespread within the ranks of the Al Arqam faithful; prior to his death in 2010, Ashaari had four wives and reportedly as many as 40 children.
GISBH was subsequently founded by people loyal to Ashaari’s teachings, including one of his wives. According to a report by the Rakyat Post, GISBH admitted on its website to being founded by “Ustaz Ashaari Muhammad” and said that its goal was “to develop the Islamic way of life in all aspects of life such as education, arts and culture, animal farming, etc.”