JEDDAH, 7 February — Charity organizations in the Kingdom yesterday denied involvement in funding extremist groups, after the government announced that it would take action to prevent misuse of funds raised by the charities.
Adnan Basha, secretary-general of the International Islamic Relief Organization, told the Okaz newspaper that his group had been applying strict auditing to make sure aid money reached its intended destination.
All the organization’s transactions abroad have been carried out through banks in Saudi Arabia and overseas, and aid is provided through a three-tier monitoring process, Basha said. The IIRO, its offices and affiliates have annual budgets that are approved by the board of directors as well as Saudi embassies and authorized agencies in the countries concerned.
The budgets and all financial activities are audited inside and outside Saudi Arabia by local and international legal auditors. This process applies to the organization’s offices and affiliates abroad, Basha said.
The secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Mane Al-Johani, criticized the Western media campaign against Islamic charities, saying Al-Bir charity which appeared on a terror funding list had ceased to operate five years ago. "Enemies of Islamic work" are not happy with the charities’ achievements and are plotting against them, he charged.
An official said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia would "take every possible action in accordance with relevant international resolutions to ensure that charity works are not misused for illegal purposes."
The statement followed allegations of links between workers in overseas branches or offices of several Saudi charities and a number of entities suspected of bankrolling terrorism.
The United States has submitted to Riyadh eight lists containing 168 names of individuals and groups suspected of funding terrorism.
Saudi charities have not been a cause of concern regarding the funding of terrorist activities because "they are well regulated by the government through the ministry of labor and social affairs," a Western diplomat said.
The general supervisor of non-governmental organizations in the Kingdom, Daifallah Al-Balwi, has said the charities collected SR1 billion last year. Their sources are donations from businessmen and charity members, charity work, zakah and returns on investments, Balwi said.
The money is used for welfare projects, including medical treatment, housing and other services in addition to direct aid inside and outside the Kingdom. Saudi charities have offices and representatives in around 55 countries and have in the past two decades contributed millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians, Bosnians, Afghans and others.
Al-Riyadh daily yesterday slammed attempts to discredit Islamic charities. "We know that the ongoing war after (the) Sept. 11 (anti-US attacks) targets the Islamic world, from the Indonesian islands to the jungles of Nigeria ... It is an attempt to strip this world of its humanitarian values in the name of fighting terror," the paper said in an editorial.
"The West is not entitled to issue certificates of good conduct while it has caused desperation in the world," Al-Riyadh said. "It is true we have extremists and those backing them, but they do not control Arab and Islamic governments and similar cases exist in Western societies too."
