August 6. On this date in 1984, the UHJ wrote to a NSA stressing "the proper accounting for earmarked funds is very important." In practice, Bahá’í accounting is opaque. This sort of lack of transparency and accountability inevitably leads to financial scandal, as happened in the Bahá’í community in Italy in 2007, when Franco Ceccherini, the General Secretary of the NSA, was arrested for embezzlement after an investigation by Italian tax authorities.

 

 

August 6. On this date in 1984, the UHJ wrote to a NSA stressing "the proper accounting for earmarked funds is very important." In practice, Bahá’í accounting is opaque. This sort of lack of transparency and accountability inevitably leads to financial scandal, as happened in the Bahá’í community in Italy in 2007, when Franco Ceccherini, the General Secretary of the NSA, was arrested for embezzlement after an investigation by Italian tax authorities.

886. The Proper Accounting for Earmarked Funds is Very Important

"This question of the proper accounting for earmarked funds is very important. The account books of any Assembly should be designed in a way that will always clearly distinguish between earmarked funds and funds freely at the disposition of the Assembly, so that there will be no danger of the Assembly's inadvertently commingling them and spending earmarked funds for the wrong purpose."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly, August 6, 1984: Ibid.)

The lack of transparency and accountability inevitably leads to financial scandal, as happened in the Bahá’í community in Italy in 2007, when Franco Ceccherini, the General Secretary of the NSA, was arrested for embezzlement after an investigation by Italian tax authorities.

 

On February 16, 1998, a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual Bahá’í about Huqúqu’lláh stated "You have asked as to where and how the House of Justice reports on its uses of the funds received through payment of Huqúqu’lláh. The House of Justice does not issue an accounting of the current expenditure of these funds."

111. "You have asked as to where and how the House of Justice reports on its…"

You have asked as to where and how the House of Justice reports on its uses of the funds received through payment of Huqúqu’lláh. The House of Justice does not issue an accounting of the current expenditure of these funds. However, there is no secret as to the uses to which the funds are put. The Sacred Texts affirm that the Huqúqu’lláh is to be paid to the Authority in the Faith to whom all must turn, and indicate that these funds may be "expended for the relief of the poor, the disabled, the needy, and the orphans, and for other vital needs of the Cause of God". Decisions concerning such factors as the timing, the methods of disbursement and the amount rest with the House of Justice.

In these days, as during the ministry of Shoghi Effendi, all funds received by the Head of the Faith are used to promote the interests of the Faith at the World Centre and worldwide. The Institution of Huqúqu’lláh Newsletter, issue no. 6, mentions that the funds are spent for such purposes as, "promotion of the teaching and proclamation of the Faith worldwide; care, maintenance and restoration of Bahá’í Holy Places; building up of the Bahá’í World Administrative Centre; support of the work of the many Bahá’í institutions and agencies; erection and restoration of Bahá’í Houses of Worship; establishment and support of new institutions; charitable and benevolent undertakings; and support of the worldwide manifold interests of the Faith."

The effective utilization of Huqúqu’lláh and other funds available to the House of Justice is manifest in the great developments taking place at the World Centre and throughout the Bahá’í world community, many of whose national budgets must be subsidized by the House of Justice, owing to the fact that the vast majority of the world’s Bahá’ís are poor and cannot adequately support their national funds….

The Huqúqu’lláh, as its name "The Right of God" implies, has a special character which distinguishes it from all other Bahá’í funds. Its nature and purpose, and the blessings with which payment of it has been endowed can be read in the compilation which has been issued on the subject….

In accordance with Bahá’í principle, contributions to the various Bahá’í funds, as well as payments of the Right of God, are offered confidentially and are receipted…. You may rest assured that at the Bahá’í World Centre a method of financial management has been instituted to keep scrupulous accounts and also to prevent any significant incidence of extravagance or, God forbid, malfeasance from occurring undetected and unchecked. It is a method that maintains both the confidentiality of individual contributions and the integrity of the use of all funds entrusted to the House of Justice.

(16 February 1998, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)