Think the money was spent badly – VG

Five former employees of the Født Fri foundation are behind the warning that prompted the government to immediately halt millionaire support for the organization on Monday.

According to the investigative report of the audit firm EY, there are reasons to claim that Født Fri has partly abused public support and lacked good financial management.

The foundation disputes the allegations and asks for documentation.

– We believe that the report contains a number of errors, and that it reproduces our explanations incorrectly and poorly, says Shabana Rehman in an interview with VG.

Do you have any advice in the case? Get in touch with VG journalists here.

– Not justified

Laial Janet Ayoub (35) says she grew up under negative social control and was jubilantly happy when the money came to an organization that had to work to fix the problem.

– When I saw how the money was being spent, I could not stay still. It was not fair to everyone growing up in these conditions, Ayoub tells VG.

In the letter to the Directorate for Integration and Diversity (IMDi), the complainants point to a series of examples of what they consider to be a waste and misuse of state aid.

The complainants also criticize the fact that the foundation, in their opinion, has not helped young people gagged by strict guardians, threatened with forced marriage or exposed to violence.

– We could help many

– We have a lot of money, we could help many. We haven’t helped a single person, says the woman who wrote the warning, Raime Lima.

The complainants write that “at no time have there been indications of professional-looking corrective actions or measurable results.”

“Today, 2 years after the opening, we still cannot refer to anyone we have helped,” the complainants write.

Born Free responds that the foundation was never intended to be a reception for youth in crisis.

– Our purpose has been to promote public education, our social mission to be visible to the public and create networks, says the organization secretary of the foundation, Morten Guldberg.

Born Free works to provide parents and guardians with a greater understanding of the consequences of negative social control, forced marriage, and female genital mutilation.

Guldberg notes that Født Fri has conducted and broadcast more than 30 conferences and projects and has done extensive information work in the fight against negative social control.

– Youth has been sent on

– When people in desperate situations have contacted us, we have put them in contact with the aid apparatus and organizations such as Self-Help for Immigrants and Refugees, SEIF.

Morten Guldberg also emphasizes that there are contact numbers and chat alternatives run by other competent actors, for young people in crisis who need someone to talk to.

Born Free did not intend to play that role, says the organizing secretary.

– Fantastic great place

SEIF management confirms the division of roles. The organization has worked for more than twenty years for young people who are exposed to honor violence and forced marriage.

Born Free has referred us young people in crisis for practical assistance and help to start over, says organization leader Mersida Spatalaj and administrative leader Belinda de Leon at SEIF.

They have understood the role of Født Fri differently from that of the whistleblowers: not as an organization that was supposed to help young people in practice, but was supposed to disseminate information and knowledge.

Born Free has been a platform where young people are given a voice, a wonderful place where the young generation was finally able to stand up and speak directly from the heart, Leon says.

Evaluate the police report

EY, which has mapped allegations of embezzlement, has found, among other things:

• Travel costs that EY says may appear to be private in nature are charged to the foundation totaling NOK 55,000, which exceeds what is reasonable as an expense for a business purpose.
• General manager energy service subscriptions, which EY says appear to be private. The total value exceeds 50,000 crowns, but subscriptions have not been fully reported.
• Purchase of Apple watches, headphones, Apple TV and a drone for a total of 28,000 crowns, which according to EY appears to be private.
• Goods and services that EY claims are purchased from close associates of Rehman. Born on Friday October 2018, he bought catering food for NOK 64,204 from a family member on three occasions.

EY has recommended that the Directorate for Integration and Diversity consider reporting the situation to the police, in order to assess whether the non-profit foundation has violated the criminal code.

“Tunnel Vision Fashion Report”

Rehman believes the above figures have been taken out of context and presented as private spending, “based on a woefully biased report with tunnel vision.”

– The seminar in Son and in London, where we worked in the writing of two magazines, we already explained that it was not paid with funds we received via IMDi, but from private supporters, Rehman tells VG.

– When it comes to media subscriptions, it is rendered inaccurately. For example, I paid for Netflix myself, while a subscription to HBO Nordic is charged because we were going to see “Handmaid’s Tale”, because the series is about negative social control of women, he continues.

– When it came to buying food, there were three conferences during a week in October 2018, with a total of 420 participants, where the catering agency that we were going to use withdrew at the last minute. My sister, who previously ran a restaurant, stepped in and delivered food for SEK 120 per person. In hindsight, I see that it was possibly unwise to make such a purchase from a private person with whom I am related, Rehman says.

– The technical equipment that has been acquired is related to work because we make cultural elements. But the purchase of the drone, which cost less than 10,000 crowns, I take a self-criticism because we have not been able to use it yet, he continues.

She says the foundation will document that the figures in the report are incorrect.

Read the interview with Rehman: Foundation formed by phone from Abid Raja

Født Fri claims on Friday that the organization hired a partner at the Bll & Co law firm, Anne Helsingeng, to review EY’s investigation into the foundation.