Australian Islamic College


Australian Islamic College is a multi-campus independent Islamic co-educational primary and secondary day school, located in Perth, Western Australia. The school was founded in 1986 by Abdallah Saad Magar, with 50 students. In 2006, it had 2,000 students, and over 250 staff spread over three campuses in Kewdale, Thornlie and Dianella.

History

The school was established by Abdallah Saad Magar as the Muslim Community School on Brisbane Street in Perth, in 1986. In 1990, a second campus was opened in Thornlie to cater for students from grades K-10. In 1996, a third campus opened in the northern suburb of Dianella. In 2000, he opened Kewdale College in the Perth metropolitan area on the grounds of the former Kewdale Senior High School.

Fraud conviction

Australian Islamic College was raided by 28 fraud squad officers and ten investigators from the Department of Education, Science and Training investigations unit on 18 October 2013. Abdallah Saad Magar and the Principal Aziz Magdi were charged with fraud offences against the governments of Australia and Western Australia. The charges related to falsifying records to indicate that more students were attending the school than actually were and thereby obtaining money for the school that they were not entitled. The amount that was alleged to have been obtained fraudulently was A$3.16 million. Both were found guilty in the District Court on 31 March 2010. Abdallah Saad Magar appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court, however his application was denied.
In June 2010, Australian Islamic College posted an article in Wake Up Call, Issue 172, written by a Year 12 student defending the misappropriation of funds. The article stated that "When a man does all this for Islam in the western society, When he does it for the guidance of the Muslim children - I cannot call that fraud".

Campuses

The three campuses are located at: