{"id":3293,"date":"2025-02-02T12:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T12:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/in-public-they-ran-a-successful-global-business-in-private-police-allege-they-abused-hundreds-of-children\/"},"modified":"2025-02-02T12:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T12:31:18","slug":"in-public-they-ran-a-successful-global-business-in-private-police-allege-they-abused-hundreds-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/in-public-they-ran-a-successful-global-business-in-private-police-allege-they-abused-hundreds-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"In public, they ran a successful global business. In private, police allege they abused hundreds of children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions dined in their restaurants worldwide, getting a taste of Malaysia supplied by a sprawling conglomerate that claimed to embrace Islamic values by caring for thousands of disadvantaged children they said were orphans in homes across the country. <\/p>\n

But the leaders of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) are now fighting allegations they ran a cult-like organization that forced followers to work and have many children, some allegedly conceived through rape, to populate orphanages and raise donations that funded their lavish lifestyles. <\/p>\n

When Malaysian police raided two dozen homes run by the company in mid-September, they rescued over 600 children and have since detained hundreds of people, charging some with crimes including child trafficking, sexual abuse and organized crime. GISBH lawyer Rosli Kamaruddin says the group\u2019s leaders plan to fight the charges. <\/p>\n

This is the story of the cult\u2019s apparent revival \u2013 complete with its own prison islands and \u201choly water\u201d infused with the leaders\u2019 hair and bathwater that former members say was sprayed on goods produced in their factories and on meals served to diners at their restaurants. <\/p>\n

A nation in shock<\/h2>\n

Royal Malaysia Police launched a series of raids in September on dozens of care homes operated by GISBH, and over several weeks rescued hundreds of children they say were the offspring of company employees. <\/p>\n

In one press briefing, Police Inspector General Razarudin Husain told reporters children were groomed, malnourished and subject to \u201cchild labor, exploitation.\u201d Health screenings conducted on 392 children found all had suffered physical or emotional abuse. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey themselves were abused by their caretakers. Then they were forced to sodomize other children,\u201d Husain told another press briefing. <\/p>\n

As the raids unraveled, GISBH restaurants, grocery stores and laundromats were closed, blinds drawn, logos stripped off the walls and social media accounts shut down. Some of the groups\u2019 members fled back to their hometowns across Malaysia and were waiting instructions from the group\u2019s leaders as to what to do next, their families said. <\/p>\n

In raids on houses affiliated with GISBH leadership, police found dozens of books and photographs associated with Ashaari Muhammad, the founder of Al Arqam. Some had been buried in a riverbed, their pages caked in mud. <\/p>\n

Al Arqam was an Islamic group, led by Ashaari, known as \u201cAbuya\u201d or Father to his followers, that believed in building a self-sufficient Islamic community with Malaysia at the center of the Muslim world. <\/p>\n

It was banned by the Malaysian government in 1994 for \u201cdeviant\u201d teachings, a decision that at the time was questioned by international rights groups as a potential breach of religious freedom. Ashaari subsequently spent 10 years under house arrest and died in 2010. <\/p>\n

GISBH\u2019s promotional material says the company was founded by Ashaari \u201cwith the aim to develop the Islamic way of life in all aspects of life such as education, arts and culture, animal farming.\u201d Before the raids, GISBH had about 100 care homes housing many of the 3,000 \u201cyouths\u201d the group claimed to be their \u201cemployees,\u201d according to former members and information from the company\u2019s website. <\/p>\n

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Young boys sleeping on a thin mat at a GISBH run care home.<\/span> <\/div>
Obtained by CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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On the outside many of the care homes looked like normal suburban houses, but inside the children lived in spartan conditions.<\/span> <\/div>
Royal Malaysia Police<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Those arrested include GISBH CEO Nasiruddin Mohd Ali who admitted in a video statement that \u201cone or two cases of sodomy\u201d occurred, but he rejected all other allegations made against the group as slander. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not trying to blame the law. Indeed, we have done some wrong in the eyes of the law [\u2026] Indeed, there were one or two cases of sodomy, but why lump them all together?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Nasiruddin, alongside other GISBH leadership, has since been charged with belonging to an organized crime group and is currently awaiting trial. Among those also charged is Mohammad Adib At-Tarmimi, the son of Ashaari. <\/p>\n

The highly publicized case shocked the nation. While most Malaysians had heard about Abuya and Al Arqam back in the 90s, few knew about their connection to GISBH and the alleged abuses that went on inside the company. But it came as no surprise to anyone who had ever worked for GISBH. <\/p>\n

Scabies, stitches and secrets<\/h2>\n

Farid, who recently left GISBH, was 27 when he joined the group in 2010 after years of struggling with drug addiction. \u201cI give my soul, I give myself to them because they want to fix me,\u201d said Farid, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect his family. <\/p>\n

He was in an arranged marriage with the daughter of a senior member and quickly had two daughters. When their older daughter turned two, she was sent to live in a charity home, like most GISBH children. <\/p>\n

At first glance, some of the welfare homes bear no association to GISBH. Some carried the GISBH logo, others appeared to be normal houses with yards strewn with toys on quiet suburban streets. Facebook pages run by the homes show small children said to be orphans in religious garb, singing and praying, imploring followers to donate or give zakat<\/em> to buy food, clothes or school supplies. Zakat is a form of religious alms giving and one of the five mandatory pillars of Islam. <\/p>\n

But the children were not orphans. In most cases their parents were GISBH workers, like Farid, though some hadn\u2019t seen their kids in years. Instead, they were raised by caretakers who in some cases were only a few years older than them, according to former members and law enforcement. <\/p>\n

Over time many of the children came to believe they actually were orphans, he added, while authorities said some couldn\u2019t identify their parents. <\/p>\n

Farid says his daughter quickly changed after moving into a welfare home. \u201cMy daughter was a cheerful girl, always smiling, always laughing but when she went there, she was very sad, she had no self-confidence,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

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Young boys watching TV in a GISBH run care home. The company had an in house production company that created news-like programming as well as children\u2019s cartoons and other entertainment.<\/span> <\/div>
Obtained by CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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A young boy once housed at a GISBH run care home receives medical care.<\/span> <\/div>
Obtained by CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Amir, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect his family, said caretakers told him the boy was often crying and wetting his pants. One time he visited, his son had stitches on his chin and forehead. <\/p>\n

Amir said a caretaker had admitted throwing the boy in anger after he wet himself. The boy also told his father he was locked in a dog kennel as punishment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me to keep the matter a secret,\u201d Amir said, but he said almost everyone at the group knew about other instances of abuse that went on in the care homes. If their child hadn\u2019t been hurt, they knew somebody whose kid had been, he said. <\/p>\n

Total control<\/h2>\n

The group\u2019s headquarters was a sprawling compound complete with horse stables in the town of Rawang, a 30-minute drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur. One local resident recalled that the arrival of the Al Arqam-linked community in the early 2000s drew attention from locals, but there was an \u201cunspoken boundary\u201d between the group and the rest of the town\u2019s residents. <\/p>\n

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Life inside the community was tightly controlled. <\/p>\n

\u201cGISBH embodies the criteria of a cult \u2013 absolute loyalty to leaders, charismatic leader at the core of the movement; exclusive membership and severe penalty for leaving, members\u2019 loss of personal autonomy,\u201d said Dr Azmil Tayeb, a political scientist and Associate Professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, who specializes in Islamic political and social movements. <\/p>\n

Men and women, even married couples, lived in gender segregated dorms and were not allowed to meet without the leaders\u2019 approval, former members said. <\/p>\n

Even if you saw your wife in the courtyard you couldn\u2019t speak to her, Farid recalled. Instead, married couples had to apply for what were essentially conjugal visits, scheduled appointments where couples were expected to have sex, several former members said. Viagra was provided and in some cases group leaders demanded to know the details the next morning, said Farid. <\/p>\n

\u201cI saw myself as a sex slave, I didn\u2019t see myself as a wife,\u201d said Zoey, a former member from Singapore, who left the group in 2021 and asked to use a pseudonym to protect her young children. \u201cThe role as a woman in GISB is only for you to give birth.\u201d <\/p>\n

Zoey\u2019s family joined GISBH when she was a teenager, and she struggled to adapt to the restrictive culture of the group. At the age of 17, she was deemed \u201cuncontrollable\u201d by the leadership and married to a man 10 years her senior. Within weeks of being married, her husband became physically and sexually abusive towards her, she said. He regularly raped her, she said. <\/p>\n

Zoey said she tried to go on birth control pills but when her husband found out, she was beaten again and forced to stop. Her complaints to the group elders went unheard, she said. Instead, she was told to obey her husband as \u201che is your heaven.\u201d <\/p>\n

Zoey fled the marriage and now cares for their nine children in Singapore \u2013 the eldest nearly the age she was when she was forced to marry. <\/p>\n

\u2018Superbikes for Islam\u2019<\/h2>\n

In 2022, the group claimed to have more than 5,000 employees working in restaurants, bakeries, factories and supermarkets and other businesses in 20 countries including Australia, UK, France, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where they also ran a resort, according to their website and news reports. <\/p>\n

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GISBH employees worked long days in factories producing goods such as noodles, sauces and other halal food products.<\/span> <\/div>
Obtained by CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Farid working in a GISBH factory making hot sauce.<\/span> <\/div>
Obtained by CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The company\u2019s unsettling practices allegedly extended to the food factories where workers sprayed so-called \u201choly water\u201d on products sold to the public, according to several former members. <\/p>\n

\u201cHoly water\u201d or \u201cAir Berkat\u201d was a concoction made by mixing the leaders\u2019 saliva, body hair and bathwater. Members of the group believed that each part of their leaders\u2019 bodies contained \u201cberkat\u201d or spiritual-magical properties. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve always been well connected; we are not talking about an isolated cult in the middle of the jungle,\u201d said Tayeb. <\/p>\n

GISBH\u2019s connections to the government reached the highest level of Malaysia\u2019s elites. In April 2023, the executive chairman of the group and several other senior leaders met with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at his private office. <\/p>\n

At the meeting, the Prime Minister \u201cpromised to help all efforts of GISBH in the name of the Muslim economy,\u201d according to an article posted on Ikhwan News, the group\u2019s own media publication. Following the raids in September, Anwar urged police and religious authorities to investigate and take appropriate action to address misconduct at the company. <\/p>\n

While some employees worked 16-hour shifts in factories, restaurants and resorts GISBH leadership spent their time jetting around the world, meeting the highest rungs of Malaysian leadership and attending sporting events, with Nasiruddin taking a special interest in horseback riding and motorsports. <\/p>\n

Followers were told not to question the leaders\u2019 lavish spending for it was all done in the name of Islam, one former member said. \u201cThey say we buy superbikes for Islam,\u201d said the former member, who wished to remain anonymous. <\/p>\n

Anyone who asked questions or dissented was sent to \u201cquarantine,\u201d faraway camps where members spent months living in jungle huts with no water or electricity, repenting their sins, said several former members, recalling their experience. <\/p>\n

As one former member put it, \u201cYou ask today, tomorrow they send you to the quarantine island.\u201d <\/p>\n

Amir said he spent 10 months in quarantine on Tioman Island, a nature reserve popular with tourists off the main coast of Malaysia. He said he was sent there as punishment for trying to escape after learning about his son\u2019s abuse. <\/p>\n

Nowhere to go<\/h2>\n

Since the raids in September, most of the children have returned to the care of their parents, but over 100 children are yet to be claimed by their families, authorities said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy children don\u2019t love or respect me anymore. They have been brainwashed,\u201d the lawyer recalls one of his clients telling him. <\/p>\n

The years of indoctrination will take some time to undo. After attending reeducation programs, the GISBH children will eventually be introduced to mainstream schools, according to Malaysia\u2019s education ministry. There, they will for the first time become a part of Malaysian society. <\/p>\n

For the adults not facing charges, the future is unclear. Those who grew up inside the group have few life skills to fall back on, and many of the men have multiple wives and many children they now need to support. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey say if you are in the group, you are on the highway to Heaven,\u201d Farid said. Outside, Zoey said, former members \u201chave nowhere to go.\u201d <\/p>\n

On January 9 GISBH posted a message on their Facebook page after months of silence. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are created to be a test to other people,\u201d it read. \u201cSo be patient with all this.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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