Child abuse case: Malaysia probes GISB for potential orphan fraud as rescued youths remain unclaimed

KUALA LUMPUR: Parents of 572 children and teenagers rescued from alleged abuse at welfare homes linked to GISB Holdings have yet to come forward to claim them.
This is as police investigate the Malaysian conglomerate for the possibility of fraudulent claims that the children are orphans, when they are offspring of its members. 
Speaking at the sidelines of a press conference on Monday (Sep 23), police chief Razarudin Husain said that the young care home charges were instructed to deny they knew their parents.
According to the Malay Mail, in some cases, police interrogations revealed that children, especially those under 12, claimed they did not even know who their parents were.
Some parents denied that the children were theirs. 
“They won’t admit that these are their children, they claim they are orphans because some of them have ‘bin’ or ‘binti’ Abdullah,” said Mr Razarudin, as quoted by national news agency Bernama.
He added this “could be a ploy to collect donations, which might then be used for other purposes” and that it constituted an offence under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud.
“Bin Abdullah” and “Binti Abdullah” means son or daughter of the servant of Allah. 
Mr Razarudin added that one member, who was among 156 people detained on Saturday as part of the ongoing child abuse probe known as Ops Global, had four wives and 34 children.
“He had only two children with him and he did not know where the remaining 32 children were,” said the police chief, as quoted by the Star.
Mr Razarudin added that the 156 individuals detained comprised 80 men and 76 women.
Of these, 55 were aged 18 to 30, 53 were 31 to 50 years old, 32 of them aged 50 to 65, and 16 were aged 65 and above.
Mr Razarudin also said that 187 children – 100 boys and 87 girls – were rescued under Ops Global on Saturday.
“There were 59 kids below five years, 75 aged six to 12, 40 aged 13 to 17, and 13 who were aged 18 or older,”  he said, according to The Star. 
“This brings the total children saved since Sep 11 to 572.” 
Mr Razurudin said that police believe most of these were offspring of GISB members.
Currently, the rescued children have been placed in 11 safe houses by the Social Welfare Department (JKM). The Ministry of Education (MOE) is also initiating an educational programme for over 300 of the rescued children, beginning Oct 1. 
Mr Razarudin said on Monday that GISB has about 10,000 followers – including children – across the country.
He added that initial investigations also found that its followers are still practising teachings of the Al-Arqam sect that was declared deviant in 1994. 
On Sep 11, raids by Malaysian police on welfare homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan resulted in the rescue of 402 children who allegedly had been exploited and abused, some sexually.
Later that day, GISB denied exploiting children as workers and said that it would take legal action against any “malicious defamation”.
On Sep 19, Malaysian authorities arrested GISB head Nasiruddin Mohd Ali and other senior managers in an early morning raid on four residential premises in Kuala Lumpur.
Five other people linked to the company were also detained at the border with Thailand, Mr Razarudin said.
Police have said GISB is linked to a banned religious sect. Established in 2010, the conglomerate owns bakeries, minimarts and other businesses in Malaysia and elsewhere, with assets totalling around RM325 million (US$77 million) globally.
On Sep 20, Perlis mufti Mohd Asri announced that Perlis had become the first state to issue a fatwa declaring GISB as a deviant sect and that the religious decree would be gazetted soon.