the ministry of social affairs, the body that monitors the activities of charity associations, has submitted 19 questions to the boards of directors of these associations and foundations, all of which relate to the measures it follows in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
the ministry also asked to know about its projects and methods of collecting and disbursing the money it collects in the form of donations, in the pursuit of the ministry, or rather the desire of external, international parties, to confront the crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing, and the need to expand the use of automated systems, which limit, as much as possible, from human intervention.
it was clear from the questions that they depend mainly on the knowledge of the approved procedures related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing crimes, the financial powers of the various job grades in the association, the previous internal violations of the employees, the activities and projects licensed at home or abroad, in addition to the number of knet devices used and electronic donation devices, and how to transfer money, whether through a company or an employee authorized by the association.
the ministry emphasized that these measures come within the framework of the efforts of government agencies to prepare for the international review process, which awaits kuwait next november, from the middle east and north africa financial action task force (menafatf), to assess its experience in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
the well-known charity evaluation form also includes questions not only about financing terrorism, but also about the extent to which there are approved organizational structures for associations and foundations, financial and administrative regulations regulating work, and a clear guide to performance governance, in addition to the extent to which there is a clear guide or list of financial authorities and powers for various job grades.
the association or the foundation, the number of monthly meetings of its boards of directors, the availability of printed hard copies of these minutes, the methods of collecting donations and transferring funds, the limits of the powers of any member of the board of directors of the association or the foundation in any supervisory positions in the country, the number of bank accounts approved for the association, and the financial powers and powers to its employees.
by answering questions, checking the monthly or quarterly trial balance of the association or foundation, and the presence of an internal audit department, it is possible to find out if the association has special risks that deserve attention!
what the international authorities do not know, or know, is that “all” of these charities and foundations, with the exception of four or five out of 50, are structures affiliated with two religious political parties, or run by those who strongly sympathize with them, as the state is today almost in the grip of the muslim brotherhood.
it is natural to assume that the ministry will not be able to impose what it wants on it, especially with regard to its vague answers.
most of the boards of directors of these politicized charities have gained extensive experience over a period of nearly a hundred years, in how to dodge, and not disclose everything, as this is not in their interest, as a large part of their operations is confidential.
the real thing is to take money from the well-to-do, or those looking for a wage, and hand it over to the person in need, the sick, the needy, or the incapacitated. its role is more complex than that, and the evidence is the complexity of its financial operations, the multiplicity of its associations and branches, despite the strong similarity in its objectives, and its refusal to disclose the sources of its funds or publish their budgets, or what the “in charge of them” get in terms of commissions or percentages of money they receive as donations, which are in the tens of millions after it was once in the hundreds of millions!
this deliberate obscurity is the biggest evidence that there are many things that most of these associations seek to cover up.