HEERLEN - Three former board members of the Foundation Islamic School Heerlen were arrested last week on suspicion of forgery and money laundering. This is confirmed by spokeswoman Esther Schreur of the functional prosecutor's office of the public prosecutor's office. "They were detained for three days for questioning and then released. However, they remain suspects."

Although the prosecution would not confirm it, the arrests almost certainly stem from the investigation launched after the Ministry of Education filed charges in November 2008 against the administrators of the foundation, which includes two schools (El Wahda in Heerlen and El Habib in Maastricht).

An investigation by the Education Inspectorate had revealed that for years the foundation had been receiving public funds
abused. This included people on the payroll who did not work for the foundation, and the president and treasurer were falsely paid a teacher's salary for three years. The old board, partly at the urging of the ministry, resigned at the end of 2008.