Former Student Union (URSU) President Haanim Nur Admitted to Taking Money from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) while she was Chair of the Saskatchewan chapter

former student union (URSU) president Haanim Nur 

REGINA — The amount may only total $700, but some at the University of Regina are wondering about the impact on student politics after former student union (URSU) president Haanim Nur admitted to taking money from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) while she was chair of the Saskatchewan chapter.

Nur tendered her resignation as URSU president after the misappropriation was investigated by the CFS and the URSU board was informed.
In an interview last week with U of R student newspaper The Carillon, Nur said she knew it was a “stupid thing to do.”
“It’s totally beneath me. I shouldn’t have done it,” she told the paper.
Nur was contacted multiple times by the Leader-Post seeking comment, but never made herself available for an interview.
Kent Peterson is the Saskatchewan representative on the national CFS board.

University of Regina

He said the possibility of a misappropriation of funds was first raised in February when the bank used by the CFS Saskatchewan chapter called him about a suspect $300 cheque made out to Nur.

Processes with the chapter have changed since the incident with Nur was discovered, but at the time each cheque drawn by the group had to go through a cheque request and be signed by two parties — Peterson and Nur.
The bank sent Peterson a copy of the cheque and, once he realized the signature wasn’t his, he froze the account.

“That happened so there were no more dollars in, no more dollars out,” he explained.

“I asked (Nur) if she could explain the cheque and the answer she gave me wasn’t satisfactory so I took the step I’d wanted to do which was close that bank account entirely and ... arranged for all (CFS dues) to go directly into the national account.”

At that point it was March and URSU elections were in full swing; Nur was on the ballot for president.

“Nothing was proved and I wanted to make sure I had all the facts first, because we still ... didn’t have everything analyzed,” Peterson said, explaining why the allegations weren’t brought to light during the campaign.

In the end, the CFS investigated, and Peterson said three cheques were discovered which didn’t bear his signature.

Nathan Sgrazzutti, who replaced Nur as URSU president

Nur told the Carillon that she had contacted CFS, who told her to continue in her role and just to “make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Adam Awad, CFS national chair, said he “would find it very difficult to believe anyone in this office would have” had that response.
Awad said he hoped “at the very least” Nur would return the funds, but left it up to URSU to make the call.

Nathan Sgrazzutti, who replaced Nur as URSU president following a byelection last week, said the incident “compromises (the) whole student union.”

“(Students) are unhappy, they’re surprised, they’re angry,” he said.
“This is something we do not tolerate.”

Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/Former+Students+Union+president+admits+taking+money/7328176/story.html#ixzz28ApxXCo3