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Houston Islamic society treasurer suspended over transactions

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is taking steps to right a financial wrong.

Two unauthorized transactions were made on a donor’s account and now the treasurer, who was in that position for three years, has been suspended.

The society said nothing like this has ever happened before. It has roughly 8,800 voting members and tells ABC13 Eyewitness News it takes honesty and transparency very seriously.

“We investigated that and come to find out that a check was deposited in ISGH account, so no issues with that,” President Sohail Syed said. “ISGH did not lose any donation, but during that process of receiving that check and depositing that check, that information somehow got compromised.”

The unauthorized transactions of less than $1,100 included one for Comcast, one for Verizon Wireless.

Turns out, someone close to the treasurer, possibly a family member, got access to the data. In result, the shura, or the society board, voted to suspend the treasurer for 90 days, which Syed laid out in a letter to society members.

That’s not all. They’re also bringing in outside help to double check all the records.

“Information and the trust of our donors is very dear to us and very important to us, so shura decided right away that we wanted to make sure we do a forensic audit of our financial system,” Syed said.

Local Muslims think that’s a good idea.

“I have faith in them that they’ll be able to put this behind them and get to the root of the problem, and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” resident Adnan Usmani said.

The board also passed a resolution to hire an internal auditor. It’s a move they feel is necessary to keep the trust of those they serve.

“Their information and their data is very dear to us, and utmost important to us that we keep it safeguarded, and we will do everything possible to keep it safe and secure,” Syed said

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