KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Twenty-two members of an Islamic business group, including its CEO, were charged Wednesday for being part of an organized crime group after hundreds of children believed to have been sexually abused were rescued last month from welfare homes linked to the group.
Nasiruddin Mohamad Ali, CEO of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings, and his wife Azura Mohamad Yusof were among dozens detained last month as police investigations widened to include human trafficking and money laundering. Islamic authorities are also investigating GISB for deviant teachings linked to the banned Islamic cult Al Arqam.
Global Ikhwan was established by Al Arqam leader Ashaari Mohamad and flourished after his death in 2010. The government deemed the sect heretical and banned it in 1994.
Nasiruddin, his wife and a son of Ashaari were among the 22 charged on Wednesday. No plea was recorded from the group as the case must be transferred to a higher court, said defense lawyer Rosli Kamaruddin. But he said they will stand trial.
”They will fight the accusation and challenge it in court,” Rosli told reporters. He said he was unsure if there will be more charges. The defense plans to appeal to the Attorney-General's Chambers to reconsider their charges and challenge their current detention without trial in the high court, he added.
The suspects face up to 20 years in jail each if found guilty.
Police rescued more than 500 children from welfare homes linked to GISB last month. Some were believed to have been sodomized by their guardians, denied medical treatment and physically abused. The case sparked outrage and calls for better child protection and monitoring of childcare centers.
GISB, which aims to promote an Islamic way of life, owns mini-markets, bakeries, restaurants, pharmacies, properties and other businesses abroad. It employs some 5,000 people.
Authorities have frozen bank accounts linked to GISB. Police have said the children, whose parents are Global Ikhwan employees, were placed in welfare homes since they were infants and believed to be indoctrinated from a young age to be loyal to the group and exploited to collect public donations.
Global Ikhwan gained attention in 2011 when it formed an “Obedient Wives Club” that sparked controversy by teaching women to be “good sex workers” to keep their husbands from straying.
Nasiruddin Mohamad Ali, CEO of Global Ikhwan Services and Business, center, arrives with others members after charged for being part of an organized crime group after hundreds of children believed to have been sexually abused were rescued from welfare homes linked to the group, at the Selayang Sessions Court in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Wednesday is shaping up as one of the most significant days in a volatile year for Boeing, which is expected to report a huge third-quarter loss, introduce its new CEO on his first earnings call, and learn if machinists will end a strike that has crippled the company’s aircraft production for more than a month.
The strike is an early test for Kelly Ortberg, a Boeing outsider who became CEO in August.
Ortberg has already announced large-scale layoffs and a plan to raise enough cash to avoid a bankruptcy filing. He needs to convince federal regulators that Boeing is fixing its safety culture and is ready to boost production of the 737 Max — a crucial step to bring in much-needed cash.
Boeing can't produce any new 737s, however, until it ends the five-week-old strike by 33,000 machinists that has shut down assembly plants in the Seattle area.
Ortberg has "got a lot on his plate, but he probably is laser-focused on getting this negotiation completed. That’s the closest alligator to the boat,” said Tony Bancroft, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, a Boeing investor.
Boeing hasn't had a profitable year since 2018, and the situation is about to get worse before it gets better.
Analysts expect Boeing to announce Wednesday that it lost about $6 billion in the third quarter, including $3 billion in charges related to airline jets and $2 billion in losses for its defense and space programs.
Investors will be looking for Ortberg to project calm, determination and urgency as he presides over an earnings call for the first time since he ran Rockwell Collins, a maker of avionics and flight controls for airline and military planes, in the last decade.
The biggest news of the day, however, is likely to come Wednesday evening, when the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reveals whether striking workers are ready to go back to their jobs.
They will vote at union halls in the Seattle area and elsewhere on a Boeing offer that includes pay raises of 35% over four years, $7,000 ratification bonuses, and the retention of performance bonuses that Boeing wanted to eliminate.
Boeing has held firm in resisting a union demand to restore the traditional pension plan that was frozen a decade. However, older workers would get a slight increase in their monthly pension payouts.
At a picket line outside Boeing’s factory in Everett, Washington, some machinists encourage co-workers to vote no on the proposal.
“The pension should have been the top priority. We all said that was our top priority, along with wage,” said Larry Best, a customer-quality coordinator with 38 years at Boeing. “Now is the prime opportunity in a prime time to get our pension back, and we all need to stay out and dig our heels in."
Best also thinks the pay increase should be 40% over three years to offset a long stretch of stagnant wages, now combined with high inflation.
“You can see we got a great turnout today. I’m pretty sure that they don’t like the contract because that’s why I’m here," said another picketer, Bartley Stokes Sr., who started working at Boeing in 1978. “We’re out here in force, and we’re going to show our solidarity and stick with our union brothers and sisters and vote this thing down because they can do better.”
Koenig reported from Dallas.
FILE - Nadia Milleron, parent of Samya Rose Stumo, one of the victims of the Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia, holds her photograph as she speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill, June 18, 2024, in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
In this photo provided by Boeing, CEO Kelley Ortberg is shown during a visit to the Boeing factory on Aug. 8, 2024 in Renton, Wash. (Marian Lockhart/Boeing via AP)
Boeing 737 Max aircrafts are seen behind fences, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the company's facilities in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Union machinists wave signs next to company's factory in Everett, Wash., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Union machinist Terry Muriekes waves a Halloween-decorated strike sign by Boeing's Everett, Wash., factory on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Union machinists wave signs next to company's factory in Everett, Wash., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Union machinist Terry Muriekes waves a Halloween-decorated strike sign by Boeing's Everett, Wash., factory on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
