Australia’s largest Islamic school that lost $19m of federal funding was ‘milked for millions’ because of ‘toxic’ links to organisation that represents the country’s Muslims, by Stephen Johnson.

Australia’s largest Islamic school was used as a ‘milking cow that never runs dry’ for a powerful Muslim group behind halal certification, a court heard.

The Malek Fahd Islamic School at Greenacre, in south-west Sydney, last year lost $19 million in annual federal funding, following revelations taxpayer money was leaking to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

This group, also known as AFIC, charges major food producers, including Kraft Vegemite, fees for halal certification.

These fees, to certify the product contains no pork or alcohol products, are used to fund Islamic schools. …

The school has three campuses, including Greenacre which was leased from AFIC and allegedly used to fund the Muslim umbrella group, the newspaper report said. …

Last year, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal found the school’s board, which has AFIC ties, was not spending its taxpayer funding on educating its 2400 students.

It found AFIC had a 25-year arrangement with the Malek Fahd Islamic School to lease the property for its Greenacre campus from AFIC at the substantially inflated rate of $1.5 million a year. …

The Malek Fahd school’s graduates include the leaders of Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, Uthman Badar and Hamzah Qureshi.

Daily Mail Australia in March captured Mr Badar on camera telling a forum at Bankstown library that ex-Muslims deserved death.

Prominent Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Adelaide-based Shia imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi have both called for Australia to shut down Islamic schools claiming they are radicalising students.

hat-tip Stephen Neil