Malaysia arrests business leaders as investigation into child sex abuse case widens | Sexual Assault News
The arrests follow the recent rescue of 402 children and young people from foster homes allegedly run by a major corporate group.
Warning: The story below contains details of nursing home abuse.
Malaysian police have arrested the chief executive and other leaders of a prominent business group accused of running care homes where hundreds of children and young people were allegedly physically and sexually abused.
Inspector General of Police Razarudin Husain confirmed on Thursday that Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, head of Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB), and 18 others aged between 25 and 65 were arrested following a police raid in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Several of those arrested were advisory board members of GISB, a self-described “Islamic” company involved in businesses ranging from supermarkets to laundries in more than 20 countries, and which has been linked to the now-defunct Malaysia-based religious sect Al-Arqam.
The raid also included two of Nasiruddin’s four wives and two of his children, as well as several children of the late Malaysian preacher Ashaari Mohamed, founder of Al-Arqam, which was banned by the government in 1994 after being deemed heretical.
In a separate operation, five other people linked to the company were arrested at the border with Thailand, Razarudin said.
Rescue
The arrests follow the rescue last week of 402 children and youth from 20 facilities in two states, many of whom showed signs of neglect as well as physical and sexual abuse, according to officials.
Police arrested 171 adults, including religious teachers and caregivers, in the coordinated raids.
They said the homes were managed by GISB, but the company has denied managing them.
According to Razarudin, some of the boys, aged between 1 and 17, are believed to have been sodomised by their guardians and taught to sexually abuse each other.
He said they were denied medical treatment and burned with hot metal spoons as punishment for disobedience.
Medical examinations have so far shown that at least 13 teenagers were sodomized and 172 children suffered long-term physical and emotional injuries, the police chief said.
Preliminary police investigations determined that the affected children were sons and daughters of Malaysian GISB employees, placed in the homes from the time they were babies.
The children are believed to have been exploited to collect public donations.
Authorities have frozen 96 bank accounts linked to GISB, worth 581,000 ringgit ($137,000), as part of an investigation into sexual abuse, child neglect, human trafficking and money laundering.
Three men arrested as part of the police investigation into GISB were also charged separately in court on Thursday, Razarudin said.
The men, who have pleaded not guilty, face multiple charges of allegedly sexually assaulting boys at a religious school in Negeri Sembilan state, according to court charge sheets seen by Reuters news agency.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, flogging, or both.
Police had previously charged two other people as part of their investigation into GISB.
