MAASTRICHT - Two former administrators of the Islamic elementary school El Wahda in Heerlen and El Habib in Maastricht do not have to go to jail for fraud involving several tons because they "have already suffered loss of face in the Islamic community, which has already been perceived by them as punishment. That is what the Maastricht court ruled yesterday in the fraud case.According to the judges, an unconditional prison sentence is "in principle appropriate," but in this case a 240-hour community service and a six-month suspended prison sentence is enough. The requirement was five months unconditionally.

School principal Marcel L. (53) must serve 100 hours of community service. Together, the men must also repay nearly 2.5 tons. The school board members were guilty for years in the mid-1990s of drafting fictitious employment contracts for themselves and their wives. Former school board chairman Abdelhaquim K. (46) and treasurer El Houssien C. (52) placed themselves on the payroll as full-time teachers while once teaching. Both men also had full-time other jobs, K. as a security guard in the penitentiary in Roermond, C. at a car factory. They performed the work at the school "in the evening hours and weekends," they told FIOD.

Their wives were paid as administrative assistants and janitors, the principal's wife as a teaching assistant. They did not pocket the money but used it for pupil transportation, they claimed. This was necessary because otherwise the schools would have too few students to survive. The court rejected this defense as "not proven or plausible. The defendants "cunningly misused quite large amounts of community money," according to the verdict.