Man pockets Mosque funds

[General Veers]

Man pockets Mosque funds
Posted: 25 January 2012 1838 hrs

In a district court on Wednesday, businessman Abu Bakar Said Ahmad Alhabsi, 72, pleaded guilty to misappropriating $176,470 between 2004 and 2007. He will be sentenced on Apr 2 as he intends to make full restitution. -- ST PHOTO: TED CHEN​

SINGAPORE: A businessman who was entrusted with four properties by a late tycoon, pocketed S$176,472 of funds that were meant for the upkeep of a mosque in Yemen.

Seventy-two-year-old Abu Bakar Said Ahmad Alhabsi pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of criminal breach of trust after misappropriating the funds between 2004 and 2007.

Abu Bakar had been appointed a trustee after the death of business tycoon Syed Hood Ahmad Abdul Rahman Alsagoff in 1934.

The will of Mr Syed Hood created a wakaf, or the trust of four properties in the Joo Chiat area.

His will also stated that the rent collected from the properties were bequeathed for religious and charitable purposes, mainly for the upkeep of the Al-Raudah Mosque in Yemen.

Abu Bakar, along with his father and brother, were appointed as trustees in 1965.

Two years later, Abu Bakar assumed sole management of the properties after his father died.

Sometime in 2007, he handed over the administration of the properties to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.

He also informed the council that he had not kept any accounts of the wakaf since 2004.

However, the council discovered that S$181,822 was unaccounted for upon a review of the accounts from January 2004 to March 2007.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Yi Ling also told the court that Abu Bakar collected S$97,587 of rent from the four properties in 2004.

Instead of handing over the cash to the mosque, he misappropriated the entire amount for his personal expenses.

A second incident took place in 2006, when he made away with S$38,209.

He has since made partial restitution of S$45,500 to the council.

Abu Bakar, who intends to make full restitution, will be sentenced on April 2.

If convicted of criminal breach of trust, he could be jailed up to 10 years and fined.

- CNA/wk