Whistleblowing imam wins dismissal case
AN IMAM who blew the whistle on his mosque has won a case for unfair dismissal.
Yahya Barry was sacked after he raised concerns over financial irregularities and reported Edinburgh Central Mosque to the charity regulator, OSCR.
Mr Barry, 35, had been worried by thousands of pounds of payments being made from petty cash, rather than by cheque.
An employment tribunal has now ruled that his concerns amounted to “protected disclosures” – the legal definition of whistleblowing – and that his dismissal was therefore unfair.
Judge Murdo Macleod, who heard Mr Barry’s case in November, said the mosque had not been ready to accept criticism from the imam. In
a formal ruling, Mr Macleod said: “They reacted in an an extraordinarily defensive way, in our judgment, instead of looking at the facts.”
The judge added: “This defensiveness was, in our judgment, redolent of an employer that was not prepared to accept criticism and [Mr Barry’s] persistence in raising matters both with the management and with OSCR led directly to the process which led to his dismissal.”
Mr Barry was appointed to his £30,000-a-year role in December 2015 and dismissed in September 2017. The hearing heard he had clashed with the mosque’s director, Dr Naji Al Arfaj, who came into his post in January 2017.
Officially he was dismissed after an investigation for what the mosque called “hostile” and “aggressive” behaviour.
Mr Barry had been accused of calling Dr Naji a liar over claims the director about mosque finances.
In his decision Mr Macleod, however, said the Tribunal had “great misgivings” about whether the mosque’s investigation into this claim was fair.
While Mr Barry did admit to once “losing his cool”, Mr Macleod judged that the mosque was wrong to assert a pattern of hostile behaviour.
Instead, Mr Macleod concluded one of the reasons Mr Barry was that he had raised concerns over petty cash.
On his whistleblowing form Mr Barry claimed payments totalling around £8,000 had been paid out of petty cash. He cited payments made without invoices.
During the hearing, Ahmed Werfali, now a lecturer in accounts and finance at Dundee University, told the tribunal he quit in March 2017 due to issues with Dr Naji Al Arfaj.
These included the irregular use of petty cash. Mr Werfali, who described the environment at the mosque as “toxic”, claimed large cash sums were being paid out to tradesmen without any quotations being sought for the work or invoices being issued.
The accountant said he was also concerned by the way the mosque handled cash from its car park.
Mr Macleod said a new hearing would be arranged to decide how Mr Barry could be compensated for his unfair dismissal.
Since leaving the mosque, Mr Barry has set up his own Madrassah and is studying for a PHD at Edinburgh University, where he is an honorary chaplain.