The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has denied accusations that it invested in a company that trades in alcohol.
The prominent Muslim human rights organisation said shares it owns in the bar-chain the Baa Bar Group were given as a donation and they have not profited from them.
The clarification was in response to an article in The Independent newspaper on Friday which said that accounts filed by the IHRC’s charitable trust in 2009 listed an investment in the Baa Bar Group worth £38,250. The Liverpool-based company organises alcohol-fuelled parties and has locations around the country.
The IHRC statement said: “We were donated these shares in this company by an individual who had informed us that these shares were related to investment in property. These shares were set up specifically for charities and the condition for these shares was that we could not cash them for two years.
“Some considerable time later, we came to know that the company was related to a company that dealt in alcohol, by which time the company had been delisted from the stock exchange, and the shares were deemed almost worthless.
“Naturally, given the ethical issues, we could not and did not benefit financially from the sale of these shares. We have sought advice as to how best to dispose of these shares without financially benefiting from this trade.
“The above demonstrates clearly that we did not invest in or financially gain from a business that trades in alcohol. We are disturbed that The Independent did not give us adequate time to respond to their enquiry and explain the circumstances, thus leading to wholly misleading article being printed about the organisation generally and its charity arm. We will be pursuing this matter appropriately.”
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