DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - COLORADO: PROBLEM WITH ACCOUNTING PRACTICES IN A DENVER MOSQUE ?!?

After testy meeting, books remain closed at Denver mosque

The Colorado Muslim Society adjourned a heated meeting Sunday without opening its financial books as a group of dissidents was demanding.

"I think it was handled all wrong," said Anis Jad, a former board member who attended the testy annual members' meeting at the mosque, 2071 S. Parker Road.

Disaffected members, including Jad, planned to ask for more financial transparency and a stricter adherence to the bylaws of Colorado's largest and most influential mosque.

However, the board declared that no official business could be conducted because the gathering fell short of a quorum of 117 people. The two-hour meeting continued unofficially with more than 100 members. A reporter initially was invited to observe but then was asked to leave the premises.

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The session was punctuated by "heavy conflict," according to Khadija Senesac, owner of a tax- preparation service.

"Honestly, we could use a mediator," she said.

The mosque's former treasurer, Zafer Khan, a certified public accountant, said that after listening to "a lot of shouting," he left, not intending to come back.

"I wash my hands of it," said Khan, who resigned last year because he was concerned over a lack of financial controls.

The mosque operates as a faith-based, 501-C3 nonprofit and doesn't need to open its books publicly, but members say they deserve to know where their money is going.

The mosque's Web site provides links to financial statements for 2004 and 2005. The figures for the latter year are the most comprehensive and list, among other line items, total assets of $3.8 million.

The problem, Anis Jad said, is that the figures can't be backed up by other financial records and receipts.

Senesac said when she kept the financial records for the mosque in 1996, she found the bookkeeping didn't measure up to strict American accounting rules.

"In their countries, this is how they perform, off the cuff," she said, referring to the many Middle Eastern immigrants who hold leadership positions. "Just because they are doctors and people with (degrees) doesn't mean they understand finances."

She didn't believe anything illegal was going on, she said, only that there was a clash between a strict regulatory culture and an old-world culture where finances were handled "with a handshake and information on a napkin."

No date was set for another meeting.

Does anyone dare say: JIHAD FINANCING CENTER?!?!?!?!?!?!?

That would be my first thought, second (a distant second) would be that the members of the mosque were being scammed...

Ohhh and I bet that they will not be holding another meeting anytime soon, not until their books have been fixed...



Pertinent Links:

1) After testy meeting, books remain closed at Denver mosque