Thank you, Alex, for disclosing the matter to the general membership.
As Alex wrote, WMF is requiring WMKE to return all the remaining grant
funds for safekeeping, until WMKE gets its financial controls in place: an
audit of all the expenditure so far out of the grant money, beyond the
money misappropriated by Stephen; a dedicated, joint bank account with at
least two board members as signatories; replacement board members
(naturally, we expect Stephen not to be re-elected); and a functioning
audit committee.
This is indeed a disappointing development, and no doubt a demoralizing
one. Nevertheless, WMKE can and should take this as a challenge -- a form
of growing pains -- and come out stronger and more mature. I'd recommend
the general membership do whatever it takes (probably a face-to-face
meeting?) to work this out and bury the hatchet, so that we can all move on
and get back to promoting the Wikimedia Vision in Kenya.
Best regards,
Asaf
On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Kosgei Isaac <kips8505izo(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks Alex,
We always had this suspicion and it has really affected the chapter.
I am not sure what the next step is and what action the board and the
foundation will take regarding this so that it will serve as an example to
others.
Secondly we NEED an audit of all the funds because I personally had doubts
with most of the expenses.
Hope this gets sorted soon.
Thanks
On Oct 3, 2012 7:10 PM, "Alex Wafula" <xelawafs(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
As most of you already know, we have had concerns raised over our
finances surrounding suspicions of embezzlement of funds by our treasurer.
I am sad to confirm these suspicions. Stephen Wanjau, the treasurer has
come forward and admitted to the Board that he has used part of the funds
for personal non-chapter expenses amounting to approximately USD. 800 and
resigned from the Board effective immediately.
We will now move to wire back the remaining funds to WMF for keeping
until we have our own bank account and more than one signatory for the
same. As for the embezzled funds, it will be Stephen's responsibility to
return the amount.
This is a major setback for the Chapter having had so many plans that got
sidelined over confrontations to get the issue resolved. It is my hope that
we will mobilize through this trying time and come out better and more
accountable. I would also like to take this opportunity to thanks Asaf for
his support in this matter.
On Behalf of the Board,
Alex Wafula
Dear all,
As many know, in Wikimedia Spain we are dealing with a very nasty
business.
While we were preparing our financial report we caught our former
secretary stealing money from our chapter.
The stolen amount is in the vicinity of 2500 euros. He even left a debt
of ~100 euros that I have personally covered. It may not seem much, but it
was all we had.
The former secretary never gave access to the new treasurer, he just
made it look like the bank was delaying the process of the change of
treasurers.
He also sent us falsified extracts of the account and the amount of money
in it.
We were so concerned with the behaviour of the bank that we were about
to change to another one. And then we received a call from the banksaying our account was
in debt.
When confronted, the former secretary confessed. All the data are clear,
for the bank's official reports are avaliable now.
Also, with the gently support of the WMF, in the persons of Asaf,
Garfield and Jay, we have already start all the legal actions needed
according to Spanish law, including formal complaint to the Police and
all the papers with the Bank. We have prepared an official statement
too, "just in case" any spanish media want to discuss the case.
This has been a huge blow for us, as you can imagine. Fortunately, it has
been only one person and the rest of the members of WMES are now trying to
re-boost our chapter. Of course, by september will be a General Assembly,
for all the Board have resign with the aim to lead a transparent process.
Best regards,
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--
Asaf Bartov
Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
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