Hi all, As most of you already know, we have had concerns raised over our finances surrounding suspicions of embezzlement of funds by our treasurer. I am sad to confirm these suspicions. Stephen Wanjau, the treasurer has come forward and admitted to the Board that he has used part of the funds for personal non-chapter expenses amounting to approximately USD. 800 and resigned from the Board effective immediately.
We will now move to wire back the remaining funds to WMF for keeping until we have our own bank account and more than one signatory for the same. As for the embezzled funds, it will be Stephen's responsibility to return the amount. This is a major setback for the Chapter having had so many plans that got sidelined over confrontations to get the issue resolved. It is my hope that we will mobilize through this trying time and come out better and more accountable. I would also like to take this opportunity to thanks Asaf for his support in this matter. On Behalf of the Board, Alex Wafula Dear all, As many know, in Wikimedia Spain we are dealing with a very nasty business. While we were preparing our financial report we caught our former secretary stealing money from our chapter. The stolen amount is in the vicinity of 2500 euros. He even left a debt of ~100 euros that I have personally covered. It may not seem much, but it was all we had. The former secretary never gave access to the new treasurer, he just made it look like the bank was delaying the process of the change of treasurers. He also sent us falsified extracts of the account and the amount of money in it. We were so concerned with the behaviour of the bank that we were about to change to another one. And then we received a call from the bank saying our account was in debt. When confronted, the former secretary confessed. All the data are clear, for the bank's official reports are avaliable now. Also, with the gently support of the WMF, in the persons of Asaf, Garfield and Jay, we have already start all the legal actions needed according to Spanish law, including formal complaint to the Police and all the papers with the Bank. We have prepared an official statement too, "just in case" any spanish media want to discuss the case. This has been a huge blow for us, as you can imagine. Fortunately, it has been only one person and the rest of the members of WMES are now trying to re-boost our chapter. Of course, by september will be a General Assembly, for all the Board have resign with the aim to lead a transparent process. Best regards,
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