KUALA LUMPUR — Police are urging members of Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB) Holdings who lodged reports against the company previously and retracted them, to come forward again.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said a former GISB Holdings member from Negeri Sembilan had lodged a report and then retracted it, but later lodged a new one which policed used in its investigations.
“We opened investigations under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001,” he told Bernama today.
The woman also gave police credible leads for action to be taken, he added.
“I urge former GISB Holdings members who had lodged police reports and then retracted them them to come forward and help in investigations,” he said.
On September 11, police rescued 402 individuals – 201 boys and 201 girls – aged between one and 17 years in raids on 20 care homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan linked to GISB Holdings.
Razarudin later said that after documenting and interviewing the victims, police believe 13 children were sodomised.
The raid was carried out after six months of intelligence and investigations, although police had been investigating GISB Holdings since 2011, long before allegations against it went viral on social media recently.
He said six months ago, police met representatives of Pusat Kajian Ajaran Sesat (PUKAS) who channelled initial information that police used to reopen the case.
“They facilitated the re-opening of investigations of various police reports lodged against GISB Holdings,” he said.
To date, police have detained 171 individuals, including religious teachers and caretakers aged between 17 and 64, to assist in the investigation.
Investigations papers have also been opened against four men in connection with the alleged sodomy of the 13 children.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry said it is ready to provide education to the 402 children who were rescued.
Razarudin said previously that some of the children were left at the care centres by parents who worked for GISB Holdings at its overseas branches.
It is also believed that some of the care centres ran their own schools or provided their own religious education syllabus to the children, as the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) said that two of the premises raided are schools registered with the department.
Among the other abuses the children allegedly faced were inappropriate touch and denial of proper medical care under the guise of being given “Islamic medical treatments”. — September 14, 2024