Online attacks: Founder Steve Morrish resigned from SHISA amid allegations of financial mismanagement. Photo: Michael Copp
By William Jackson
The Sydney Morning Herald
August 19, 2013
Gina Rinehart has resigned from the "expert advisory board"
of Australian-Cambodian anti-human trafficking NGO SISHA, to which she
was a major donor, pending an independent audit of the organisation's
finances.
The founder and chief executive
of the organisation, former Melbourne police officer Steve Morrish,
quit on Friday morning amid allegations of financial mismanagement which
Mr Morrish continues to strenuously deny.
Former staff claim that hundreds of thousands of dollars
earmarked for specific causes - including the Hope Scholarship Fund for
underprivileged girls, a crisis support centre
for rape victims and an orphanage fund - had instead been spent on
SISHA's operational costs. The costs included staff wages, rent on
offices in Phnom Penh and Thailand, travel, vehicles and sundry
expenses.
A spokesperson for Mrs Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting said in an email on Friday that Mrs Rinehart had only recently been made aware of the allegations.
“As a consequence, a reputable firm of auditors is being engaged to perform an independent audit
of the finances of these programs,” the spokesperson said. “Pending
the outcome of this work, Mrs Rinehart tended her resignation as an
honorary member of the advisory board of SISHA. The advisory board is
not responsible for the running of SISHA or its daily management.”
The spokesperson said Mrs Rinehart did not wish to reveal how
much she had donated to the organisation or comment on whether she was
satisfied with the way her donations had been spent.
However, Mrs Rinehart was “very pleased” to support the
scholarship program and the girls benefitting from it and intended to
continue the program “one way or another”.
An Australian-registered not-for-profit organisation, SISHA's
website says it conducts investigations, trains police and provides
legal support and aftercare for victims.
Mr Morrish was a detective senior constable with Victoria
Police before coming to Cambodia and founding Sisha in 2007. According
to his profile on the business networking site
LinkedIn, he is managing director of SM Services Group, which provides
security services, and SMCS Investments Co. Ltd. He is also president of
the Cambodian Eagles Australian Rules Football Club.
Sisha issued a statement Friday saying that Mr Morrish had
been replaced as chief executive of the organisation by SISHA's Thailand
country director Ron Dunne. In the statement, Mr Morrish said he
planned to fight the allegations.
“I want to thank the board, our staff, and our donors for
their support over the years. We have achieved a lot at SISHA and I will
always be proud of that,” he said.
“However a campaign of online attacks against me personally
was starting to affect SISHA, and after putting six years of my life in
to SISHA I could not allow that to happen.
“Standing down will also allow me to better pursue the
defamatory and unfounded allegations made against me. The board of SISHA
has engaged KPMG to undertake an independent review, and I'm confident
that this will put to rest allegations of financial impropriety against
me.”
Mr Morrish's resignation came after a letter was sent to the
board of SISHA's US arm by former SISHA US executive director Sean
Looney. The letter, containing allegations about SISHA's finances and
Mr Morrish's conduct, was leaked to the media and various Cambodian blog
sites.
In the letter, Mr Looney advises the remaining board members
to resign to avoid “legal and financial risk” from being associated
with the organisation.
“The situation is untenable, the wheels are coming off, and the fall is near,” he wrote.
Mr Looney's letter includes a transcript of a Skype text chat
during which he is summarily dismissed by Mr Morrish for refusing to
transfer US$30,000 ($32,646) intended for the girls' scholarships into
SISHA's general expenses account.
Three other SISHA staff resigned in the wake of Mr Looney's dismissal.
SISHA's board chairman Stephen Higgins, a former CEO of
Cambodia's ANZ Royal Bank, said in an email that SISHA still had “in the
hundreds of thousands (plural not singular) in earmarked cash
balances”.
“The board has received assurances regarding the
appropriateness of spending being in line with donor wishes, and has
requested an independent review to confirm this,” he said.
He added: “The board is confident that with the ongoing
support of donors that SISHA will continue to support victims of human
trafficking and sexual assault in Cambodia, along with fulfilling its
scholarship and orphanage programs.”
Correction: This article originally stated
Mr Morrish asked Mr Looney to transfer US$128,000 intended for the
girls' scholarships and CamKids into SISHA's general expenses account.
It should have stated US$30,000 intended for the girls' scholarships.
1 comment:
Why has this about SISHA not been widely publicized like the Victories they claim to have about organizations they wrongly close down in order to look Good. Now look at what they are doing. That is what a lot of people are asking. Children are suffering due to them making examples of good people..
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