A decision was made this week to stop projects funded by Qatar in Switzerland, including a building complex for 22 million Swiss francs ($ 21.5 million), according to a Swissinfo report.
The decision comes amid a series of repercussions, following the controversial disclosure and confidential information exposed by the book "Qatar Papers" published by French journalists Christian Chino and Georges Malbrunot earlier this month, the French-language public channel RTS confirmed.
Mohamed Kramos, founder of the Swiss Islamic Cultural Institute, which has brought in a lot of Qatari funds to the city of La Chaux-de-Fonnes, said these projects have now stopped.
The cultural organization's reputation is closely associated with the Museum of Islamic Civilizations, which opened in 2016 in the western city of Switzerland.
Overall, it is estimated that the Institute received about 4 million francs from the Qatar Charity Foundation, which also included support for mosques in the cities of Berri, Bail / Bayan and Lugano.
In a telephone interview with the Swiss channel RTS, Mohammed Karamos blamed the media.
On the other hand, an active source in the Islamic business told RTS channel that the Qatari institution has issued a decision to significantly reduce the financing of religious nature in Europe.
The suspension of Qatari funding is expected to have a significant impact on the Swiss Islamic Cultural Institute. The Museum of Islamic Civilizations does not generate adequate financial returns because it receives a small number of visitors. He was supposed to rely on the long term to get returns from a proposed nearby real estate complex, which includes a mosque and a pool dedicated to separate periods for women.
Although Qatar Charity has participated in the purchase of the land for one million francs, the cost of building the compound of about 22 million francs will not be forthcoming as planned.
The authors, Chino, who works for Radio France International, and Malbrunot, a journalist in Le Figaro, France, detailed the detailed accounts of Qatar Charity, whose main task is to assist Muslim communities in Europe, but the book has documented countless projects (mosques and schools) Associations, etc.) in France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the Balkans, including Serbia, with direct funding to support the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and other organizations that espouse religious extremism.
The documents published in the book «Qatar Papers» reveal that in 2016 Qatar Foundation funded 140 projects in Europe, Canada and Australia in millions of dollars.
- The author of «Qatar Papers» exposed in their book accounts
Detailed to the organization «Qatar Charity», which is supposed to
Its main mission is to assist Muslim communities
in Europe.