The former manager of the Al Houda mosque in Grande-Synthe, in the Hauts-de-France region, was sentenced by the Dunkirk criminal court to three years in prison, one of which is firm and two suspended on probation. Amirouche Ouarab was prosecuted for embezzlement.
Aged 50, Amirouche Ouarab was convicted of “breach of trust”, “money laundering”, “tax evasion”, “social benefits scam” and “opening a clandestine school”. The public prosecutor had requested a much heavier sentence as well as a permanent ban on running a school and teaching. But the court was more flexible. However, in addition to the prison sentence, the judge pronounced the dissolution of the association managing the Al Houda mosque and another association called “Houses of knowledge”, both managed by the accused, reports Saphirnews.
To read: Grande-Synthe: the founder of the Al Houda mosque faces three years in prison
Amirouche Ouarab had been singled out during an investigation into the financing of the premises which housed his two associations, and for which he paid an amount of 350,000 euros, while he received social and family allowances linked to the birth of his six children. The search of the mosque allowed the police to discover that he had opened a private educational establishment and that he was hiding teachers there.
