By Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police said on Friday they will summon the top management of an Islamic business group, after children rescued from charity homes allegedly run by the firm suffered injuries consistent with sexual and physical assault.
Police this week rescued 402 children and youths in raids carried out at 20 premises that they said were operated by Islamic conglomerate Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB).
GISB has said they did not run the homes and denied allegations of sexual abuses at the properties. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said 172 of those rescued have undergone physical and mental health screenings, with many showing old and new injuries as well as indications of emotional trauma and stunted growth.
Some of the children were disabled or sick, while 13 had been sodomised, Razarudin said.
The case has sparked outrage in Muslim-majority Malaysia, with some critics questioning why action had not been taken earlier after police said it had received complaints on GISB as far back as 2011.
Of 171 people arrested during the raids, 159 have been detained pending investigation, while others were found to have been minors and released, Razarudin said.
Four men and one woman are being investigated in connection with the sodomy cases, he added.
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Razarudin said police will call up GISB’s board for questioning and did not discount the possibility of further arrests or raids on premises linked to the group. He did not say when they would be summoned, citing pending investigations.
The firm, which has been linked to a banned Islamic religious sect in Malaysia, is involved in businesses ranging from supermarkets to laundromats with operations in 20 countries, according to its website.
The group has acknowledged its links to the now-defunct Malaysia-based Al-Arqam religious sect, which was banned by the government in 1994, but now describes itself as an Islamic conglomerate based on Muslim practices.
Razarudin said the minors were mostly third or fourth generation GISB members, whose parents worked for the company and would abandon their children at ages as young as two.
“We found examples of children whose parents worked in Saudi Arabia for six years, but their kids remain here… this is a form of neglect, abuse and exposure,” he said, adding some had not seen their parents in years.
He said authorities screened 392 children who were being held in police facilities, while those who were sick or with special needs had been transferred to the welfare department and health ministry for further care.
Razarudin said the probe may be expanded to include allegations of cheating and money laundering, and urged potential victims to come forward.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar; Editing by Martin Petty)
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