Response to parliamentary question on the police report made by the Madrasah Irsyad and Muis’ efforts to strengthen the governance of madrasahs
Since the formation of the Joint Madrasah System in 2008, the role of Madrasah Irsyad’s Board of Governors (BOG) has been to set strategic direction and oversee the management for the Madrasah. Muis oversees the appointment of the BOG members. The Madrasah Management Committee (MMC) continued to exist until 2016 to assist the Madrasah in its fundraising efforts.
Up until 2014, the Madrasah carried out international projects that broadly promoted Islamic education and supported capacity building of Islamic schools in our region.
In 2014, the MMC decided that the Madrasah should move its international projects to ITL in order to focus its efforts and resources on strengthening management and improving education outcomes.
Subsequently, Muis’ audits into the Madrasah discovered questionable transactions and activities involving the use of the Madrasah’s funds and resources for the activities of ITL. None of these transactions and activities were authorised by the BOG. Some of these transactions and activities may have resulted in the Madrasah suffering financial losses.
For example, the annual audit of the Madrasah’s accounts in 2016 found that $2 million had been transferred from the Madrasah to ITL in 2014 for its international operations, with the endorsement of the MMC, but without the knowledge or approval of the BOG. Following this discovery, Muis requested ITL to return this $2 million sum to the Madrasah, which ITL did so in full.
In April 2021, Muis initiated a further audit on the Madrasah to examine the financial transactions and relationship between the Madrasah and ITL. Based on preliminary findings from this audit, Muis lodged a Police report in July 2021. Since then, Muis has been assisting the Police in their investigations into this case, which resulted in the recent charges tendered in court against a Director of ITL.
Earlier this month, the Madrasah filed a civil claim against a Director in ITL and other related parties, to seek an account of their improper use of the Madrasah’s funds and resources for ITL’s purposes and to recover losses caused to the Madrasah.
As the court case and civil claims are ongoing, I am not able to provide more information at this point. Muis will continue to monitor the developments to ensure that there is accountability to the Madrasah and the community.
In recent years, Muis has put in place measures to strengthen governance across the madrasah sector. The importance of these measures has been reinforced by the problems discovered at Madrasah Irsyad.