British Charity Commission opens ‘case’ against MQM’s charity

LONDON/KARACHI: Britain’s Charity Commission has said that it has opened a “case” into the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s charity called ‘The Sun’ -- the Society for the Unwell and Needy (registered charity number 1060417) -- over fears that its accounts were used to conceal proceeds related to money-laundering.

The News understands that the Charity Commission was forced to open the “case” after the Scotland Yard investigators asked the charity a number of questions about the payments made into the Sun charity account from the accounts linked with the MQM in Pakistan and the UK, leading to the charity stating that it has serious regulatory concerns about the MQM’s charitable arm.

It can be exclusively revealed that the latest “case” was opened by the Charity Commission in February this year after the commission was made aware of a large amount made by the MQM.

The News understands that at least three previous “cases” were dropped after investigations over two years but the latest one is very serious in nature and nothing like any previous case investigation.

Britain’s popular red top The Sun newspaper has claimed that the MQM’s charity is “being probed over £200K donation from Pakistani 'terror' group”. The paper said the charity is being probed for receiving funds from the “terror group” - in reference to the MQM – relating to a loan of the year 2012. Information gathered by this correspondent from the Charity Commission website shows that a loan of 207,745 pounds ‘‘was provided by the MQM during 2009 to facilitate acquiring the property’’.

The statement was made by the Charity Commission on 31.12.12 but the investigation has started after a gap of almost four years which points to the serious pressure on the charity commission.

In a statement to Geo News, a spokesman for the Charity Commission confirmed: “The Charity Commission has serious regulatory concerns in relation to the charity, it has a case open and is actively engaging with its trustees. The commission is aware of the charity having received a loan from MQM as declared in its accounts. As the case is ongoing we are unable to comment further.”

Admission by the Charity Commission that it has “serious regulatory concerns” about the charity means that the Sun charity could be banned from operating as a charitable organisation and its trustees declared unfit to become trustees again for failing to apply due diligence principle.

A source told The News that the Charity Commission was informed about various “dubious payments” made into and from the Sun charity account into the MQM related concerns. The source added that the police investigators believe that the Sun charity was a front for the money-laundering scheme in order to turn the black money white in the name of charity.

An MQM source said that the Sun charity was formed to promote education in Karachi and “has made donations to a university as well as dozens of educational institutions”. The Sun charity website was not available online on Wednesday but the details available on the Charity Commission website make mention that the Sun has been providing funding to Nazir Hussain University and Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation but in small amounts.

The Sun charity is currently registered at the MQM international secretariat address and its registered trustees are Tariq Mir, Muhammad Ahson Khan and Muhammad Khan. Until January this year an Indian national female councillor Zakia Zubairi was one of its trustees too. Her name doesn’t appear anymore on the list of trustees but one of the associated properties in Mill Hill remains registered on her name.

The Sun claimed that annual accounts of the MQM dating back to 2012 reveal that the party loaned the Sun charity more than £200,000 but the MQM did not declare this loan in their accounts submitted in Pakistan. It’s understood that the Sun charity went into hibernation after the police stepped up money-laundering investigation.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) department is also now involved in investigating the Sun charity’s handing of funds. A top source confided to The News that the HMRC officers are involved, besides the Scotland Yard officers, in investigating the cash found at the house of Altaf Hussain and his office. The questions being asked of the MQM are about the source of these funds, the cash origin, the point of origin and withdrawal, the route the cash took and the MQM is being asked to prove the full trail. The source said that the HMRC is set to seek proofs from the MQM on the source that was used to buy a large number of properties in the UK. Unless borrowed from the banks and unless there are registered UK lenders of these properties, the MQM could lose all properties if it fails to satisfy the investigators.

In a statement, the MQM said that it has sent a legal notice to The Sun newspaper. It said that the paper failed to print version of the party. But the MQM didn’t release to media the letter sent to The Sun newspaper.

--Originally Published in The News