Support needed to track fake charities 'funding ISIS'

[JihadiJohn]

Support needed to track fake charities 'funding ISIS'

Bryan Seymour
June 2, 2015, 5:50 pm

Fake charities raising money to fund terrorists may be getting away scot-free.

The regulator charged with shutting them down was at Federal Parliament on Tuesday to look for extra funds.

Regulator needs more support to track charities funding extremists

Investigators giving evidence to a Senate Committee say they need more resources to track groups using the not-for-profit sector to support extremists.

The charity regulator, the ACNC, told a Senate Committee it could use some help tracing donations.

"Investigative journalist from the Seven Network, Bryan Seymour ran a story that the ACNC was asked by the Federal Police to look at a charity,” Independent Senator Nick Xenophon told the Committee.

The story revealed the charity regulator was investigating a large Muslim charity suspected of supporting terrorism.

Privacy laws prevented it saying which one, but 7News has learned it raises over $250,000 a year.

"We do have forensic accountants so when a particular issue is raised we can have those accountants then drill down further," Charities Commissioner Susan Pascoe told the Committee.

But the Charities Commission needs more funding to keep track of the 10,000 charities supporting overseas causes.

"The ACNC has got the resources that the government believes are currently appropriate," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said.

The British Government has given its Charities Commission new powers and an extra $15 million to catch charities aiding terrorism.

XENOPHON to CORMANN: "I'm talking about terrorist activities and your killing the ACNC budget."

CORMANN to XENOPHON: "If there was a proposal in the future to revisit resourcing then that would have to be considered through the usual channels"

“They can find billions of dollars to fight terrorism overseas, but they won't give this organisation a few hundred thousand dollars to do their job properly," Mr Xenophon said.

The Charities Commission stresses most groups are doing the right thing, but with 60,000 charities on it's books, they're worried too much money is ending up in the wrong hands.