Pumwani mosque leaders under probe

Tuesday, 27th September 2011

By Cyrus Ombati
A team of detectives has been formed to investigate the activities of Pumwani Riyadha Mosque Committee (PRMC) and its alleged links with the outlawed Al-Shabaab group.
Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere said the team will seek to find out if PRMC had any links with the terror group and take remedial action.
"We have initiated investigations into the activities of PRMC including the auditing of the two bank accounts mentioned in the report," said Iteere.
Iteere was reacting to a UN report of the Somali Monitoring Group, which said two Kenyan politicians had contributed funds to a group allied to Al-Shabaab. He said the matter was serious since it associates PRMC with the dreaded Al-Shabaab group.
The report of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea prepared for the Security Council exposed in great detail activities of the terrorist group and its links with governments, businesses and individuals across the region.
Other accountsIt said Tourism Minister Najib Balala attended a fundraiser in aid of the mosque in September 2009, and donated Sh200,000, which was wired to an account operated by the terrorist outfit that controls huge parts of Somalia. The report said that it has no evidence to suggest that Balala knew the money would go towards Al-Shabaab’s activities. The minister’s donation was deposited into the PRMC’s Development Steering Committee’s account at Habib Bank, an account that was at that time overseen by ‘Amiir’ Ahmad Iman.
"The Monitoring Group has received credible information indicating that the funds deposited into this and other accounts (PRMC Gulf African Bank) controlled by ‘Amiir’ Ahmad Iman were used at least in part to finance his passage to and upkeep in, Somalia in late 2009," said the report.
It added that MP Amina Abdalla donated Sh500,000 towards the project but was not aware that the money would be used to fund Al-Shabaab’s activities.
It named Ahmad Iman Ali as the leader of Al-Shabaab cell in Nairobi, which was responsible for recruiting and ferrying Kenyan youth to Somalia to fight alongside the terrorist outfit.
On Sunday, Iteere said he was satisfied that the two politicians made the said donations believing that they were assisting PRMC to further legitimate religious activities.