Friday, August 28, 2009

The SNP, Saeed and that elusive 128,000.

You can get background on the Scottish Islamic Foundation here and here; this is the latest development:
Scottish Labour has today called for an urgent investigation after an SNP candidate has been forced to hand back £128,000 of public money awarded to an organisation he runs.

The SNP controversially awarded money to the Scottish Islamic Foundation headed by Osama Saeed – a former employee of Alex Salmond, and the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central.

Of the £400,000 of public money awarded to the Scottish Islamic Foundation, £128,000 has had to be returned because of irregularities surrounding what the money has been spent on.

The Scottish Islamic Foundation, headed by SNP candidate Osama Saeed, was founded just last year and was immediately awarded the money to organise IslamFest. The event has never taken place and it is unclear how the money has been spent, even though the organisation was specifically set up to receive the public money. The majority of board members are SNP researchers or activists.

Following queries from the press, the Scottish Government announced this weekend that the money from the organisation would have to be returned.

An organisation run by one of your parliamentary candidates being forced to pay back money that your adminstration has awarded them is...not good. The SNP's choice of candidates in Glasgow seems jinxed to say the least.

If you want to read more about the Scottish Islamic Foundation head towards this extensive and comprehensive post by Khalid ibn al-Waleed.

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