Ex-Muis officer charged with cheating Temasek Foundation International of nearly $785k
A former Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) employee was charged on Friday after he allegedly cheated Temasek Foundation International of nearly $785,000.
Razak Mohamed Lazim, 55, who used to be a senior director for madrasahs at Muis, was handed two cheating charges and five charges under the Computer Misuse Act.
A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority reveals that he is a director and shareholder of Irsyad Trust Limited (ITL).
The company states on its website: “We are a one-stop provider to assist partners in establishing 21st-century schools.”
According to court documents, Razak allegedly cheated Temasek Foundation International on or around Feb 12, 2018. The non-profit philanthropic organisation funds and supports programmes.
He is said to be linked to an ITL grant proposal involving Islamic schools in Indonesia submitted to the foundation.
Razak is accused of falsely portraying that ITL was then affiliated with Madrasah Irsyad Zuhri Al-Islamiah in Toa Payoh.
As a result, he is alleged to have dishonestly induced Temasek Foundation International to deliver $448,150 to ITL between Dec 7, 2018, and Sept 7, 2020.
By using a similar method for another grant proposal involving Islamic schools in the Philippines, he allegedly duped the foundation into giving $336,750 to ITL between Sept 6, 2019, and Sept 7, 2020.
Court documents do not state what happened to the monies.
Among other things, Razak is also accused of securing access to Madrasah Irsyad’s e-mail server without authority in 2019.
In a statement on Friday, a spokesman for Muis said: “Muis takes such issues very seriously and continually takes steps to strengthen governance in our religious institutions... Muis is unable to comment further as the matter is now before the courts.”
Razak’s case has been adjourned to March 17.
The case made the headlines in June 2021 when Madrasah Irsyad filed a police report after discovering that confidential files were leaked in an e-mail to unauthorised third parties.
Internal investigations revealed that a staff member, who was not named, had downloaded numerous confidential documents from the school’s e-mail server without authorisation.
In a statement issued at that time, Muis said the staff member had resigned.
It also said that the stolen documents were linked to a review of the madrasah’s financial transactions.
The review was mentioned in a parliamentary reply on April 5, 2021, by Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, who was responding to Mr Faisal Manap (Aljunied GRC) of the Workers’ Party.
He had asked, among other things, for details on any links between Madrasah Irsyad and ITL.
Mr Masagos answered then that ITL was established as a separate company in 2006 by the madrasah’s management committee. ITL was then known as Irsyad Foundation Limited.
In 2014, Madrasah Irsyad’s management moved the international side of its fund-raising efforts to ITL.
But after a review, the school decided to de-prioritise its international projects.
The school and ITL later agreed they would no longer be affiliated with each other. This meant that ITL could no longer use the school’s branding for its international projects.
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