A senior official at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) has been asked to step down over alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Irish Times reported on Saturday.
While the official remained unnamed, concerns were raised over alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the management of charitable funds raised for Gaza.
Concerns have been raised as far back as 2018 that charitable funds are not being recorded or properly banked, according to the report.
Encouraging the official to step down
The official was asked “to step down in favour of the public interest and to prevent further harm.”
Dr Eid Zaher, the center’s Imam’s secretary, said the crisis at ICCI is “due to the intransigence of a senior official in responding to requests of the board of the Al Maktoum Foundation – a foundation that for over 30 years has offered invaluable services to Islam and Muslims in Ireland.”
Zaher also issued appeals to “wise and thoughtful members of the Muslim community in Ireland to kindly encourage this senior official to step down.”
Zaher denied being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood but could not confirm or deny whether other officials at the center were part of the group.
“It is very hard to answer this question. None of them has ever expressed to me that he is a member of the group but, again, they never say,” he admitted,
The scandal comes amid disputes between the board of the Al Maktoum Foundation and a group of prominent ICCI officials. The foundation is based in the United Arab Emirates, which has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, though Ireland has not.
The ICCI was temporarily closed on April 19 and remains so, following a physical altercation which resulted in police being called, according to the report.
This is not the first time that an ICCI official was alleged to have ties to the Islamist organization. Sheikh Halawa was accused of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood previously, but strongly denied the accusations.