UK police are investigating a Christian charity to determine if it financed terrorism after its chairman was involved in the freeing of 226 hostages held by ISIS in Syria in 2016.
The Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organisation (Acero) is chaired by the bishop of Syria, Mar Afram Athneil, but is run by Andy Darmoo, 71, who is the director of a lighting company in southern England.
In its financial statements for the year ended July 31, 2016, Acero has an expenditure of £147,689 (Dh682,000) marked as "Iraq Hostages". An Associated Press report in 2016 described Mr Athneil as being “almost exclusively” behind the year-long brokering of the deal to free the hostages. Three were murdered on camera by ISIS.
The exact ransom amount is unknown but is estimated to be in the millions.
"In January 2018, the Met received a referral from the Charities Commission over concerns relating to alleged payments to Syria by" Acero, a statement by London's metropolitan police said.
"This matter is being investigated by officers from the National Terrorism Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU), which is part of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, to determine if terrorist financing offences have been committed," it said.
Police said officers executed search warrants at a residential address and business in the Dartford area in Kent and interviewed under caution an unidentified 71-year-old man.
But Mr Athneil has insisted the charity was not involved in the hostage rescue.
"As a bishop in the Assyrian Church, my responsibility was to look after my flock in my country during a troubled period. This had nothing to do with Acero UK or Mr Andy Darmoo. What happened in this situation is between me and my God," he said in a letter to The Sunday Times, who first reported the news.
Mr Darmoo said the £147,689 was sent to Iraq as humanitarian relief after the hostages were freed and that the reference in the accounts was a mistake.
The UK Charity Commission said they were unhappy with his explanations and were worried about the "perception of a link between the charity and a payment of funds to a terrorist organisation holding the hostages caused by the involvement of the chair of the charity in securing the release of the hostages," The Sunday Times said.
The investigation is ongoing and Mr Darmoo has insisted he did not send any money to Syria.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
By Fiona Sampson
Profile
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
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