Muslim center tied to federal probe
A philanthropic group under federal investigation for alleged illegal ties to the Iranian government was found to have a financial stake in a proposed Islamic center in DuPage County.
Documents filed last year with DuPage County Recorder Fred Bucholz show that the Alavi Foundation holds a $300,000 mortgage on the 3-acre property planned for the Irshad Learning Center, on 75th Street east of Naper Boulevard, near the Naperville/Lisle border. Dated March 18, 2008, the mortgage is signed by Mahmood Ghasssemi, one of five residents of Lisle, Naperville and Chicago whose names appear on a county petition requesting the conditional use permit that would allow them to operate a religious institution on the site.
On Thursday, federal authorities moved to seize some of the nonprofit foundation's assets in New York City following a complaint seeking forfeiture of a Manhattan office tower and other holdings, in connection with a five-year federal investigation of the organization's allegedly illegal ties to the Iranian government.
The foundation denies the charges that it is a fundraising entity for the Tehran administration, and its lawyer has said the group will present a court challenge to the forfeiture filing.
No charges have been filed against the Alavi Foundation, which engages in extensive philanthropic work in the U.S. One of its charitable activities is a matching grant program that funds Persian schools similar to that proposed for the 75th Street location. Generally held on weekends, the schools are designed to support the links between Iranian-Americans and Persian culture.
In an e-mail sent Saturday on behalf of the local applicants, Ghassemi wrote: "Irshad has no knowledge of day-to-day operation of Alavi, its management conduct or their standing with the law and it is not our place to make conjectures about allegations against another institution. Our relationship with Alavi is strictly limited to the process of considering our application for grant and loan per publicly announced criteria on its Web page."
Irshad's board and trustees understand their application to have been processed exactly as all other institutions, both secular and religious, Ghassemi said.
"The fact of the matter is even if the allegation against Alavi is proven correct, it must not reflect on grant recipients, whether Harvard University or Irshad Learning Center. Irshad fully supports every organization's right to due process and trusts that the legal system will reach a fair and equitable outcome," he wrote.
Members of the county's Zoning Board of Appeals have twice declined to recommend County Board approval of the application, introduced more than a year ago, but the Development Committee agreed to support it with a list of conditions. The County Board last week sent the matter back to the ZBA, which is expected to consider the new conditions Dec. 7.
A copy of the mortgage documents was e-mailed Saturday morning to all 18 members of the County Board by Peter Poteres, who lives next to the proposed center and has spoken against granting the permit.
Development Committee chairman Tony Michelassi of Aurora, who represents Naperville and the other communities in District 5, wasn't sure how the foundation's role might affect the proposal.
"I don't know what this could mean for the application. This is going to be news, I think, to everyone at the county," Michelassi said. "How it affects people's judgment on the case is really up to the individual. This is difficult to quantify right now."
District 5 representative John Zediker of Naperville, who also serves on the committee, wasn't sure either. He said he wants to make sure there are no Homeland Security regulations that could affect the proposal, and also check in with local officials.
"We'll probably need to talk to the state's attorney to see what impact, if any, this has on the zoning," Zediker said.
