RIYADH, 13 August — The Bosnian government has lifted a freeze on the accounts of Haramain & Al-Aqsa Mosque Foundation, according to Hussein Al-Jefri, general supervisor of the Saudi charitable organization.
He told Arab News that the government had also renewed the foundation’s license after obtaining clearance from the Finance Ministry.
Jefri, who has been working in Bosnia for the past six years, said the government had frozen the foundation’s general accounts, its Sarajevo project account and the separate accounts for a school and an orphanage. Bosnian officials had checked all its bank accounts and its transactions for the past five years.
Jefri said the foundation put pressure on the government to release its bank funds by drawing attention to the problems being faced by 600 orphans and students and 100 teachers and other staff at the two institutions.
The frozen accounts were not holding any big money. There were only 60,000 marks. But the freeze was preventing the transfer of money for the monthly expenses of the school and the orphanage from the Kingdom, he pointed out. "All our dealings were through bank. So they did not find anything suspicious," he said.
The situation in Bosnia has changed with regard to charitable activities. "I feel the atmosphere is not at all conducive to charity works by Arabs," he said.
There are 12 Islamic charitable organizations in Bosnia and most of them depend on Arab executives rather than Bosnians to manage their affairs.
"Most of these foreign workers have already left Bosnia because of continuous harassment," he added. This has affected the work of Islamic charitable organizations in the republic. "Saudis used to enter Bosnia without visa. But now after the Sept. 11 events they have to get a visa. This is not the only obstacle. The atmosphere is not encouraging for philanthropists from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries who want to help the Bosnians," he said.
"The government is looking for an excuse to close down Islamic organizations working in Bosnia because of external pressure," he said.
