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LOSS OF SUPPORT: Portions of public funds that Shabana Rehman’s organization may have used for private purposes, according to the Ernst and Young report. Photo: Endre Alsaker-Nøstdahl
The Born Free Foundation, led by Shabana Rehman, has received just over NOK 15 million in public support since 2017. Support is now cut off, after a report indicates that the funds have been used for the wrong purpose.
The organization is said to have used some of the state support they received for purposes other than those for which they received support and lack good financial management, a report by Ernst and Young shows, according to a government press release.
Based on the review, some of the funds may have also been used for private purposes.
Based on a warning, IMDi commissioned Ernst and Young to investigate, among other things, the financial management of the Født Fri foundation. The Vårt Land newspaper has had several cases about the warning.
– The report shows that publicly allocated funds have not been used according to purpose, and this is very serious. We hope that the organizations that receive state support will use the money for what they have been given and have good control of the economy. In this case, we will follow IMDi’s recommendation, and we will not continue to support Born Free in 2021. IMDi will also withhold payments for the rest of the year, says the secretary of state with responsibility for integration in the Ministry of Education, Grunde Almeland (V), in a press release. sent to VG.
Unexpected conclusion
VG has contacted Shabana Rehman about the report, but is referring to Født Fri’s board chairman Jan Sverre Asker, who has not responded to VG’s inquiry.
Born Free’s lawyer, Harald F. Strandenæs, tells VG that they are surprised by the outcome of the investigation.
– This is a very unexpected conclusion that IMDi draws based on what appears in the report itself. We experience that the entire investigation process has been highly unsatisfactory, in part due to the rush that characterizes the work, the lawyer tells VG.
IMDi launched an investigation
Born Free was established in the fall of 2017 as a foundation with the goal of working towards negative social control and equality across all genders, religions and ethnicities.
Since 2017, the organization has received just over NOK 15 million in grants from the state budget and through grant schemes managed by the Integration and Diversity Directorate (IMDi), including as a national resource environment.
NRK covered the forecast in August. Then NRK contacted General Manager Shabana Rehman and received this response via email:
– If it is the case that Imdi will investigate Born Free for these conditions, then we are happy, so that the real conditions around the allegations that have been pending for months come to light, he responded to NRK.
Received notice in August
According to Vårt Land, it was only four weeks since the idea of Born Free was mentioned to liberal politician Abid Raja on October 26, 2017, until the Liberal Party secured the foundation of five million crowns in the state budget.
VG contacted both the Ministry of Culture and the communications department of the Liberal Party for a comment from the Minister of Culture, Abid Raja, when the warnings were first known in mid-August but were forwarded to the Ministry. Education and IMDi.
IMDi later responded that they had received a notification from the foundation and were in the process of a thorough review of the organization.
In August this year, IMDi received a notice from Born Free. The notice contained, among other things, allegations that the allocated state funds have not been used for the purpose of the allocation, or in accordance with the purpose of the foundation.
Now Ernst and Young, on behalf of IMDi, have revised the warning against Born Free. The survey reveals deficiencies in the financial management of the foundation and that part of the funds have not been used in accordance with the guidelines of the grant scheme.
In addition, the survey reveals economic activity and transactions that indicate that the organization’s funds have financed measures that have not been reported. The report also refers to private spending and procurement by the supplier in close relationship with the CEO of Født Fri.
Recommend police report
In the report, Ernst and Young recommend that IMDi consider reporting the circumstances described in the report to the police to obtain an assessment of whether there has been a violation of the Penal Code or other legislation.
– Based on the findings of the Ernst & Young report, our assessment is that the conditions for the grant have not been met, as they appear in our grant letters. IMDi considers that it is sufficiently substantiated that the financial management in the foundation is not good, and that parts of the grants are considered not to have been used in accordance with the purpose of the grant scheme, says IMDi director Libe Rieber Mohn in the press release.
– It is true that Ernst and Young recommend considering the possibility of reporting to the police. We will come back with a more detailed assessment of this, explains Rieber Mohn to VG.
Based on the report, IMDi recommends that support for Born Free be deducted from the proposed state budget for 2021. The Ministry of Education and Research agrees with this recommendation. It is IMDi, as grants manager, who will be in charge of the subsequent monitoring of Born Free and will evaluate the recommendation related to any notification.
