The Muslim Peace Secretariat, set up during the Norwegian backed peace process, has run into a crisis after some of the main funding agencies suspended their contributions amidst allegations of financial mismanagement and political interference.
The organisation was set up in 2005 to provide a Muslim representation in the peace process, assisting in the resettlement of displaced persons and setting up vocational training programmes, among other objectives.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MP Hassan Ali, a director of the secretariat, told The Sunday Times that auditors are probing allegations of misappropriation of funds and would be submitting a report to the main funding agencies, including the Norwegian government and an unnamed British organisation.
The Sunday Times learns that the organisation has not paid salaries for the last three months of some of the employees while projects have been affected in the provinces.
Among the allegations are that the Directors misappropriated large sums of the organisation provided by funding agencies and that the directors were also drawing large salaries.
The Sunday Times learns that a former Secretary General of the organisation, M.I.M. Mohideen, had left the organisation in October last year after he brought up the issue of directors drawing large salaries without being accountable to the general administration of the organisation. |
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