The Blumarble Loan
Unfortunately, not much is known about this fiasco. What we do know however is that the old trust, under chairmanship of Mohammed Abdul Karim Saqib, signed a loan deal with a company called Blumarble remortgaging the complete Al Hijrah School Cherrywood property (worth £2.5 million). The loan received from Blumarble was a whooping £1.2 million, and it was claimed to have been "lost" when it was invested into a company called Lotus Bonnell. Due to this fiasco, amongst other severe mismanagement decisions, Mr. Saqib and other trustees resigned from the new trust. Currently there is still an ongoing Charity Commission investigation into this bizarre loan/investment deal that caused £1.2 million to vanish into thin air.
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Lotus Bonell / Amer Zulfiqar
The old trustees involved claimed that the £1.2 million loan from Blumarble was supposed to be invested into a company called Lotus Bonnell run by an individual called Amer Zulfiqar. It was claimed that the £1.2 million would be invested in Dubai properties but then somehow was lost. None of the old trustees like Mr. Saqib, or key employees such as Mr. Arif, is willing to share any information regarding this loan debacle. Investigations by members of the Al Hijrah community into this Lotus Bonnell company and the people involved, have unearthed a whole complex web of companies with similar names and virtual office addresses and lots of suspicious irregularities. Members of the public have started an email campaign for disclosure of bankstatements and official minutes because they have reason to believe that there is fraud involved. Both the Charity Commission has been informed, as well as Action Fraud and the police. We are waiting for the investigation by the authorities to provide the community with some answers. Either way, Blumarble lost £1.2 million and is now actively trying to recover it. We pray that the Al Hijrah charity will not suffer the consequences for the disastrous mismanagement of Mr. Saqib and the other trustees of the old trust.