The crisis plaguing the Malek Fahd Islamic School has deepened with legal action being launched by the school board designed to remove the governance of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
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Until an emergency meeting of the school board last week, the school had staunchly defended the role of AFIC in its operations. NSW Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli has previously declared the school had been unlawfully operating for profit.
Four other schools operated by AFIC are also under investigation by the federal Department of Education.
On October 12, AFIC suspended the school's business manager and bursar, Agim Garana, and appointed its own "Super Administrator" to control all finances and cash accounts.
On Thursday the board voted to overturn AFIC's actions, claiming it could jeopardise government funding.
The school already owes $8.5 million in financial assistance it received between 2010 and 2011. The school is refusing to repay the funding, claiming the state government has breached racial discrimination laws.
In documents previously submitted to the court, Malek Fahd said the agreement between AFIC and the school was "irrelevant" and that the minister no longer had the power to order AFIC to remain at arm's length from the school board.
But in another turnaround on Thursday the board voted to remove the president of AFIC, Hafez Kassem, as acting chairman of the board and as a signatory on the school's accounts following "allegations of misconduct".
The interim acting chairman, Soofia Abbas, wrote to AFIC to request Br Kassem be removed from his position on the board altogether. The board then requested Br Kassem stay away from the school grounds and warned security guards would not allow him access.
The board warned that the appointment of a Super Administrator "places the school in serious danger where governments could take over the school or suspend payments as they have done in the past".
In an urgent hearing in the NSW Supreme Court the following day AFIC was ordered not to remove any member of the administration of Malek Fahd. Further, AFIC was prohibited from appointing any directors, members or officeholders to Malek Fahd.
The same day, police were called to the school's Greenacre campus when Br Kassem allegedly turned up at the school with an entourage of up to 10 people. In an email, the school's procurement manager, Amjad Mehboob, alleged Br Kassem kept shouting "I am the chairman" and told people including the principal that he "can appoint and remove anyone".
Despite the turmoil the school is pushing ahead with rapid expansion plans for its third campus in Hoxton Park, on top of its multimillion-dollar operations at Greenacre and Beaumont Hills.
The Greenacre campus received $17.5 million in federal government funding in 2013, making up 75 per cent of its total income.
The case returns to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
