its loss for poor Hargeisa hospital and disgrace for somali charities!

[Saxardiid]

as provided by Financial Times Information Limited March 14, 2004

 

The Sunday Mirror: THE SUNDAY MIRROR INVESTIGATES: HOW COMIC RELIEF WAS RIPPEDOFF: HE BIG CON

 

Author:

GRAHAM JOHNSON Investigations Editor

 

AN urgent probe has been launched after thousands of pounds went missing from a

Comic Relief campaign backed by comic Billy Connolly.

 

Rogue charity workers - not connected with Comic Relief - are accused of

siphoning-off money meant for sick African children and splashing out on

expensive cars, lavish salaries and new houses.

 

An investigation into a suspected benefits fraud in Britain is also under way.

The Somaliland Refugee Action Group (SORAG) was pledged pounds 246,917 by the

Red Nose fund after Connolly made a heart-rending appeal from the war-torn

desert last year. So far SORAG has received pounds 111,680, the first instalment

of a three-year grant.

 

But the Sunday Mirror can reveal that investigators are trying to trace pounds

83,000 earmarked for the children's wings of two of the poorest hospitals in the

world.

 

The charity's directors admit that NONE of the Comic Relief money has been

spent on helping needy kids.

 

A donation of pounds 51,000 sent to Somalia cannot be accounted for and the

charity official who cashed the cheque has disappeared.

 

The rogue worker absconded with at least pounds 20,000 in cash after being

suspended and another charity worker embezzled pounds 7,000.

 

A further pounds 32,000 which should have gone to Somalia to help people with

mental disorders was not sent but is said to have been spent in Britain on

"management, administration and rent" at a new office.

 

One former board member is accused of investing funds in a property

development.

 

Police and health authorities in Somalia say they are desperately trying to

trace the missing funds.

 

And Ali Scott of Comic Relief said: "It's frightening. It's hideous. No more

money will go to SORAG."

 

The Big Yin's January 2003 appeal from the Hargeisa Group Hospital in

Somaliland - a province of Somalia which is fighting for independence - was one

of the most harrowing in the history of Comic Relief. The one-hour BBC1

documentary, called Billy Connolly - Not a Feelgood Nicey Nicey Film, raised

record donations.

 

The comic described the wards where goats run wild and the steriliser dates

back to 1953 as a "glimpse of hell".

 

A boy with a broken bone sticking out of his arm who had waited three days for

treatment moved the tough Glaswegian to the point of tears.

 

Before Billy's visit, Comic Relief had never given money to the hospital.

Later he insisted that a donation must be made to improve in-patient care at

Hargeisa and another clinic in Berbera.

 

SORAG was set up in 1990 to help physically and mentally disabled Somali

refugees in the UK. Last year they set up an international wing to fund projects

in Somalia.

 

So big-hearted Billy will be shocked to learn that Somalian health officials

accuse some SORAG staff of blowing money on houses and cars.

 

Directors have admitted that there is suspicion over a former treasurer who

bought a large house and rented it out to a Norwegian aid organisation for

pounds 2,000 per month.

 

SORAG director Ahmed Yussuf said he was at a loss to account for most of the

Comic Relief cash. Yussuf, who earns pounds 25,000 a year plus expenses, said:

"We are investigating a fraud. We have suspended the consultant in Somalia who

was in charge of the money and he has vanished."

 

A board member added: "At the moment I suspect he took at least pounds 20,000.

Another man was given pounds 7,000 which we didn't know about.

 

"We are investigating where the rest is. None of it has gone to the clinics."

 

Dr Yassin Arab, director of the Hargeisa Group Hospital, said a SORAG official

had promised money. But he added: "The hospital has not yet received any help

from SORAG."

 

Somali Mental Health minister Ahmed Omer Hersi said: "We have not received any

funds or any other form of assistance from SORAG."

 

And Minister of Health Osman Qasim has asked for a police investigation.

Sunday Mirror investigators found that SORAG transferred the charity's funds out

of the UK using a banking system called Hawala, a money-transfer method. Saad

Shire, manager of the respectable Dahabshill money transfer agents, said: "We

have transferred pounds 33,000 for SORAG to Somalia. They (SORAG) were pledged

pounds 250,000 by Comic Relief." He said he believed pounds 47,000 was passed

among some SORAG workers and the rest taken out of Britain using different

Hawalas.

 

In Britain, Social Services are investigating claims that SORAG was paid

hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' pounds to take care of disabled Somali

asylum seekers in Britain. But although the cash was paid to SORAG by 12 local

councils, some patients say they received no care - a fraud known as "ghosting".

 

Refugee Ismail Baaw of Greenwich, London, claims the charity used his name

fraudulently to get pounds 6,000 over six years. Baaw said: "SORAG was paid to

give me four hours care at pounds 9 an hour per week between 1995 and 2001 for

cooking, cleaning and shopping. I got no help."

 

The care package was stopped in August 2001 after Baaw reported the charity's

activities to Social Services.

 

Greenwich Council has paid SORAG pounds 250,000 this year - and much more in

total over recent years - to cover 48 contracts. Other Somali war veterans also

claim to have been ripped off by SORAG.

 

Posing as benefit fraudsters, Sunday Mirror investigators visited SORAG in

Woolwich, London.

 

A SORAG official revealed how he duped Social Services into handing out

benefits. Official: "One option is to say the person is mentally ill."

 

Investigator: "So you can get money for someone who is not disabled?"

Official: "Yes. We sort out everything."

 

A spokeswoman for Greenwich Social Social Services said: "We are aware of

these allegations. We are investigating and currently not buying any new

services from SORAG."

 

After meeting Comic Relief on Friday, SORAG officials reported the fraud to

the police.

 

Comic Relief's Ali Scott said: "We recently became aware of the possibility of

misappropriation of funds in Somalia and are taking this allegation very

seriously."

 

Last night pounds 30,000 held in a SORAG bank account had already been frozen.

[WingA]

i knew this would happen, money wasnt spent the right way and now they got exposed.. this is my home town in london.. i just hope this a wake up call for them be fair.. this has been going on for a long time..

 

salaams..

[AYOUB]

These people should be hunted down in the same manner as the NGO killers. Stealing from the sick and needy is just so shameful and should be punished harshly. What a shame.