Raja and Grande promised money to the foundation before it existed

The Born Free Foundation, now deprived of state aid, emerged in a very unusual way. It received money before it was formally established, and liberal leaders suggested who should run it.

– We need a network that works against honor-related violence and control, Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande told Aftenposten on November 1, 2017.

– For this reason, the Liberal Party proposes to allocate 5 million to an organization that can be in solidarity with everyone who needs it, he continued.

– The Liberal Party has budgetary power, and I hope that we will achieve a breakthrough for this …, continued Abid Raja.

– This is fantastic news and I accept the challenge, said Shabana Rehman Gaarder.

Raja and Grande asked him to study an organizational model. And they expressed their desire for her to lead the organization.

Thus was born the Born Free Foundation.

In recent years, it has received just over NOK 15 million in state aid. Now the support has stopped. The foundation runs the risk of being reported to the police.

Ernst and Young pass a harsh sentence

The Integration and Diversity Directorate (Imdi) distributes state support to these organizations on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research. A warning prompted Imdi to ask Ernst and Young to review Born Free’s finances.

the resulted in a severe verdict on the foundation’s use of public money:

• Deficiencies in the financial management of the foundation.
• Portions of the funds have not been used in accordance with the guidelines.
• Financial activity and transactions indicate that the organization’s funds have financed measures that have not been reported.
• The services have been purchased from people with close ties to the CEO.

The shameless were in the wind

“Shameless Girls” was in the wind in 2017.

In February of the same year, the board of the Fritt Ord Foundation awarded the Fritt Ord Salute to girls who were praised for their personal and courageous efforts to shed light on strong social control in minority settings. One of them was Nancy Herz.

“We are the shameless Arab girls, and our time begins now. We see more and more girls from minority communities rising up and challenging our own,” she wrote in a debate post on Aftenposten in spring 2016.

– “Shameless” women are the generation of their Berit Aas generation, said Hadia Tajik (Labor).

It was established at high speed

Abid Raja recounted in interviews and articles how he had invited Amal Aden, Iram Haq and Shabana Rehman Gaarder to a meeting at the Storting.

In an article in Aftenposten on November 17 of the same year, Raja wrote:

The meeting led Shabana, Iram, and Amal to establish a foundation they called “Born Free.” Now our job is to provide government support to this foundation. For the Liberal Party, this is such an important project that we submitted a proposal to support the network with NOK 5 million even before it was formally established, “he wrote in an article in Aftenposten. November 17 of the same year.

– It’s about cheering on the right people, Grande told NTB after the aforementioned meeting.

On November 22, 2017, the Liberal Party got KrF, Høyre and Frp to reserve NOK 5 million in the 2018 state budget. It was the opening shot for increased support last year and this year.

Raja: The ministry must respond

Outgoing Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande will not comment with Aftenposten on the matter now.

Abid Raja comments on it in an SMS:

“The Liberal Party has always been concerned with the fight against negative social control. That is why the Liberal Party prioritizes the elevation of this purpose. It is not uncommon for funds to be negotiated for various purposes and organizations in a budget debate at the Storting. And that budget unity is achieved only when all parties in the budget agree.

Remember that the Storting is the granting authority and the government the executive.

“Therefore, it has been the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Research to follow up on the Storting’s allocation decision from 2017, and even to IMDI ​​as the grant administrator to ensure that the allocation regulations are met.”

“Other questions should be addressed there,” he writes as well.

Believe the purpose was important

Therefore, the question whether the radical change in the launch of the foundation was rapid is left in the hands of the Secretary of State of the Liberal Party in the Ministry of Education, Grunde K. Almeland.

He emphasizes that it was the purpose that was important for the party: to get more votes against negative social control. She points out that the women highlighted by the Liberal Party were all relevant public debaters.

– Exactly what happened in the budget negotiations at that time, I do not want to speculate, says Almeland.

– But that was an unusual procedure, wasn’t it?

– You will find many different examples of how organizations have been created and how different projects have received funding. But that an organization is created in exactly the same way there, there probably aren’t many examples, he admits.

– Can it be dangerous when many people think that something is very important, which then fails a bit when it comes to control mechanisms and requirements?

– The requirements for the organization are the same as for everyone else, Almeland responds.

Then it refers to a group of organizations that receive funds through the same budget line. It also indicates that it is the Integration and Diversity Directorate (Imdi) that controls them.

– I am glad that Imdi after these warnings reacted so harshly, made sure that an external actor could evaluate this and made us such a clear recommendation at the Ministry of Education, he says.

Jan Sverre Asker, chairman of the foundation’s board, considers the research highly unsatisfactory.

– The report contains a number of errors and inaccuracies, says in a press release.

He believes that the content of the report does not provide a basis for criminal offense complaints.