Child abuse probe: How Malaysian conglomerate GISB managed to stay under the radar

KUALA LUMPUR: Three weeks after police launched a raid on welfare homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, rescuing 402 children who allegedly had been exploited and abused, the case continues to send shockwaves through Malaysia and dominate headlines.

Some of the children were reportedly sodomised by their guardians and taught to sexually abuse each other.

On Oct 3, the Royal Malaysia Police announced that it had frozen a total of 206 accounts linked to Malaysian conglomerate GISB Holdings (GISBH), valued at more than RM1.35 million (US$31,9791) to date. 

Police chief Razarudin Husain also said that various assets, including cars, watches and various animals had been seized. 

The same day Selangor announced that they had declared GISB as an organisation that promoted deviant teachings, the second state after Perlis did so last month.

GISB has come under continued fire for its links to the welfare homes and a number of its senior executives have been arrested. 

These include its chief executive Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, whose remand was extended, along with 24 others, on Sep 30. 

A 23-year-old teacher and caretaker of a home was last week also sentenced to 10 years' jail for abusing several boys under his care.

But as developments continue, some are questioning the time it took to probe into GISB and whether the company has been riding on its image as a successful multimillion-dollar Muslim enterprise to evade its alleged wrongdoings. 

The Sultan of Selangor on Sep 21 expressed his disappointment over what he described as a lack of effective action taken against GISB and appeared to single out religious authorities. 

«We must accept the fact that the delay in handling this issue highlighted the weaknesses in monitoring and