Racism Allegations: Last refuge for a Scoundrel.
Posted on 07/02/2006 7:09:12 AM PDT by Clovis_Skeptic
June 30, 2006 - A former Valley school administrator will likely be going to prison.
Friday afternoon, a Fresno jury came back with a verdict in the trial of the administrators of a now defunct local charter school. They were accused of misusing taxpayer money. An Action News investigation revealed the Gateway Charter School operated with little oversight, sparking a probe by the State Department of Justice.
There were three defendants in the case, and the jury treated them all differently. Two of the former Gateway administrators probably won't see any jail time at all, but jurors decided one woman was primarily responsible, and they found her guilty on a dozen serious felony charges.
The former superintendent of Gateway, Khadijah Ghafur, may have lost her freedom for a long time. A jury convicted her of misappropriation of public funds, grand theft and tax evasion.
Among many allegations, prosecutors argued Ghafur was the ringleader in a scheme to inflate attendance figures at Gateway to bring in more tax dollars.
"They really gave the charter school movement a bad name. Because of Gateway, the charter school laws changed," said prosecutor Brian Alvarez.
The jury also convicted former Gateway administrator Nazeem Hamed on one count of grand theft, but it mostly cleared Gateway's director of academic affairs and vice president Kehinde Solwazi. The Fresno City College professor only received a misdemeanor for filing a false tax return. Earlier this month, the judge threw out more serious charges against him.
"All those grand theft and all of that stuff, it was devastating to me personally, because I have lived in this community for 36 years and kept my reputation very clean. This whole trial was just a nightmare," said Solwazi.
And despite accusations the charter school was involved in teaching religion at the Muslim village of Baladullah in Tulare County, Solwazi defended its mission. "The most devastating and most unjust thing I have ever seen in this community is the destruction and the blatant racism that destroyed Gateway. I will never forget this," he said.
All three former administrators will be back in court next month for sentencing. The prosecutor says Ghafur could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Is this a veiled threat?
Racism Allegations: Last refuge for a Scoundrel.
"And despite accusations the charter school was involved in teaching religion at the Muslim village of Baladullah in Tulare County, Solwazi defended its mission. "The most devastating and most unjust thing I have ever seen in this community is the destruction and the blatant racism that destroyed Gateway. I will never forget this," he said."
The Blatant PC racism is allowing Solwazi to skate free when he was involved with the al Fuqra group at Gateway. Hopefully, he will be on the terrorist watch list of the FBI and Homeland Security re possible current and future contacts with al Qaeda/al Fuqra scumbags who want to kill us. That is blatant racism.
They claimed they were being discriminated against due to the aftermath of 9-11. That is true! They were using their tried and tested method of raising funds here in the USA, by committing fraud.
You can only hope they will continue to be investigated and watched.
The local media sure gives them a pass on all the terrorist connections in this case. Never any mention of how they are associated with al-fuqra, past arrests, or anything relating to terrorism.
The Fresno Bee seems to be the worst of the terrible Bees.
"The local media sure gives them a pass on all the terrorist connections in this case. Never any mention of how they are associated with al-fuqra, past arrests, or anything relating to terrorism.'
Makes one wonder where the loyalties of the local publisher and editors really are?
Muslim village of Baladullah
________________________
I lived in Tulare as a kid, where exactly is this village?
I don't have the link now, but hopefully Clovis Skeptic has the link to his famous post a few weeks after 9/11.
"Muslim village of Baladullah
________________________
I lived in Tulare as a kid, where exactly is this village?"
It doesn't exist any more.
Thanks
It is scary stuff.
Type in al Fuqra as a key word and look it up on Free Republic.
That will take you to Clovis Skeptic's first posting about this camp and future al Fuqra activities.
They are home grown Islamofacists hiding under their skin color.
Google Maps just zoom out a bit to get better perspective on location.
Wow, that sounds worse than the Academia Semillas charter school somewhere near Los Angeles, which supposedly glorified native Aztecs and taught in Spanish.
School founder found guilty
SHE FACES PRISON FOR THEFT, FRAUD
By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
The founder of a California charter school with ties to a controversial religious movement is facing up to 17 years in prison after being convicted of stealing taxpayer funds and defrauding private investors.
When a judge sentences former Gateway Academy Superintendent Khadijah Ghafur next month, he will probably close the books on a Fresno-based charter school with ties to both Sunnyvale and Lahore, Pakistan -- home of the spiritual leader of a fringe Muslim group whose members have been linked to criminal activity in the United States and Canada.
Ghafur has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and blamed the Gateway investigation on post-Sept. 11 prejudice against Muslims.
But Ghafur's attorney said Monday that he doesn't see any grounds for appealing the findings of a Fresno jury, which convicted her Friday on 13 felony counts, including grand theft and misuse of public funds.
``I try very hard not to second-guess juries after they issue verdicts,'' said defense attorney Franz Criego, who added that he expects his client will receive a significant prison sentence when she returns to court Aug. 10. She is in Fresno County jail without bail.
The jury also convicted two other Gateway officials on lesser charges stemming from the 2004 case.
Ghafur opened Gateway in 2000 under the provisions of California's charter school law, which allows independently run schools to operate with public funding. Its first campus was on the grounds of a small Muslim community that Ghafur had established in the Sierra foothills.
But the school soon used its charter to open or become affiliated with a string of other campuses around the state, including a religious school in Sunnyvale called Silicon Valley Academy, until authorities discovered in 2002 that some of them were violating state rules against teaching religion and charging tuition at charter schools.
The Sunnyvale school severed its ties with Gateway in 2002. The Fresno Unified School District, which issued Gateway's charter, closed most of its other campuses the same year. State officials have since tightened the rules for licensing charter schools.
Among other things, Ghafur was convicted of diverting $75,000 in state school funds to repay a woman who lent money for Ghafur to buy land for the religious community, and $30,000 to a private corporation that authorities said later channeled money to Ghafur's husband.
The monthlong trial also brought Ghafur a conviction for grand theft in a scheme that used inflated school attendance figures to raise $630,000 from private investors. Her attorney said he had hoped to call a witness who would testify that someone else was responsible for the phony figures, but the witness disappeared.
Deputy Attorney General Brian Alvarez, who prosecuted the case, could not be reached for comment.
Shortly after the charter school was closed, many families left the religious community known as Baladullah. It was one of several rural enclaves established around the country by mostly African-American followers of a Pakistani cleric known as Sheik Mubarik Ali Gilani.
Gilani's adherents say they are peaceful and law-abiding. But in the 1980s and '90s, authorities say, some of his followers were linked to crimes of violence and a scheme to defraud the state government in Colorado.
The little-known cleric won global notoriety as the person that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was trying to interview in Pakistan when Pearl was kidnapped and killed in 2002.
at least the San Jose Mercury has the integrity to print the connection to terrorism. They did back when this story first broke back in 2001. They did a great article on this woman and her husbands background.
Thanks for posting the good news that this al Fuqra Bitch has been found guilty and will be going to jail. This part pf this white washed PC story is an amazing example of how PC, the Fresno Bee is re this criminal group and murdering group, al Fuqra:
"Shortly after the charter school was closed, many families left the religious community known as Baladullah. It was one of several rural enclaves established around the country by mostly African-American followers of a Pakistani cleric known as Sheik Mubarik Ali Gilani.
Gilani's adherents say they are peaceful and law-abiding. But in the 1980s and '90s, authorities say, some of his followers were linked to crimes of violence and a scheme to defraud the state government in Colorado.
The little-known cleric won global notoriety as the person that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was trying to interview in Pakistan when Pearl was kidnapped and killed in 2002."
This ia another example of why the dinosaur fish wraps are in trouble and may be out of business before this decade is over.
For those aren't familiar with this home grown Islamofascist group click the keyword alfuqra above for some scary reading.
Defrauding the government is not considered a crime in some communities. That is why they are incredulous and offended when they get caught.
Good news bump!
You are so bad!
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