A bitter battle has broken out at Kingston Mosque between the ruling clique and a group of modernisers who accuse them of mismanagement, incompetence and nepotism.

After an 18 month investigation, the Charity Commission will later this month publish a critical report into the way the Kingston Muslim Association (KMA) has run the mosque.

And Kingston Police are now investigating an allegation that money donated by worshippers has been stolen.

The association's committee has accepted the commission's criticisms and has started to make changes, but secretary Anwar Malik denies that any money has gone missing.

He also denies the committee running the mosque is a closed shop, packed with family and friends and accuses critics of trying to seize power for themselves.

Mr Malik said: "Things are very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. I would do anything for my mosque, it is my baby. I have to look after 2,000 people who come to worship at my mosque. If somebody was doing wrong people would have thrown them out 25 years ago."

But the modernisers, led by a management consultant from New Malden, Rafik Gaffar, 42, are determined to unseat Mr Malik and his associates 12 of the 20 strong committee are related to the three founders, who set up the mosque 29 years ago and have controlled it ever since.

The modernisers want to make the mosque in East Road more democratic and accountable to the 2,000 people from as far a field as Epsom, Elmbridge and Richmond who now use it.This simmering feud burst into the open in October when this year's annual general meeting was due to take place. Mr Gaffar planned to move a motion of no confidence in those running the mosque, but they cancelled the meeting claiming that the rift could spill over into violence.

This was the final straw for the modernisers who, against their natural instincts, have now decided to go public to force the ruling clique to step aside.From page one: Mr Gaffar, who was on the committee himself for several years, said: "They are just bullies who have had control for too long. They believe they are untouchable."

The modernisers point to a long list of problems in the way the mosque has been run. These include: q An admission by Mr Malik that thousands of pounds in Zakat and Fitrana donations at the mosque have not been included in the association's annual accounts for decades. They are now being included on the advice of the Charity Commission.

q Accounts have not been submitted regularly to the Charity Commission for scrutiny. Accounts for the financial years starting in April 1996, 1997 and 2001 were received up to six years late, according to the commission's website.

q Mr Malik, the key figure in the ruling group, lives, by his own admission, outside the borough, in Staines. This is in direct contravention of the constitution he helped to create. It bars anyone living outside the borough of Kingston from being a member of the KMA. Yusuf Islam, better know as the pop singer Cat Stevens before he converted to Islam, is chairman Mubarik Ali's son-in-law and is a trustee of the mosque, but is also barred from membership under the constitution because of where he lives.

q The committee admits it has not responded in writing to numerous complaints.

q Only two AGMs have been held in 14 years.

q No proper minutes were taken at committee meetings until two years ago.

q Several committee members claim the ruling group on the committee takes important decisions without consulting other committee members.

q Inaccurate minutes from last year's AGM, as seen by the Comet, were sent to Kingston Council. The minutes were different to those sent to committee members. The committee admits the minutes were wrong but says it was under pressure to get the minutes to the council before a deadline for a grant application.

The failure to properly account for donations for several decades has fuelled rumours that money from the mosque may have gone to fund Islamic fundamental groups abroad.

But Mr Malik is adamant that no money has been stolen and all donations have gone to appropriate charities, even though the accounting procedures have been wrong, and has shown receipts worth thousands from various Muslim charities.

He admits mistakes have been made in the past and said that the committee is now working with the Charity Commission to improve the way it works.

The commission has told the KMA that all donations must be itemised on its annual accounts and that it must tighten its security measures when counting the donation money.

As a result there are now three people instead of two independently counting the money and CCTV has been installed to cover the counting area and at the entrance to the mosque.

Mr Malik also denies the committee is a closed shop, but admits the committee includes many family members and friends of the mosque's founders.

And he has promised changes to the make-up of the committee even offering the resignation of the entire committee.

Assistant secretary Javed Rafiq said: "All we have to go on is what the charity commission has told us. We are a long way from where we want to be but we have 29 years of history to get through.

"What I think is good is that this committee has accepted we have got to change now, and that in itself is a big step."

But Mr Gaffar is suspicious that any changes introduced will be a smoke-screen designed to placate members while the real power will remain with Mr Malik and his associates.

He points to the fact that an election was promised within 12 months in January 2003 but this has not happened and no election is on the agenda for the rescheduled AGM due to take place on November 28.

He is calling for a panel to draft a new constitution, for all the trustees to resign, and a new committee to be appointed at that meeting.

Some committee members, who want to distance themselves from the ruling group, including members of Mr Ali's own family, have reportedly tried to resign but several sources have told the Comet that Mr Malik refused to accept their resignations and that they have been persuaded to stay on.

One committee member who, like other ex-members and worshippers at the mosque contacted by the Comet, was vocal in condemning the ruling clique but refused to be named for fear of retribution, said: "It is like a dictatorship, whenever people raise a question it goes in one ear and out the next.

"The minutes produced are wrong, they have been cooked up, and the accounts produced for the commission have never been approved by the committee."

Mr Gaffar told the Comet that many of the committee members are well-meaning but have neither the skills nor the knowledge to take on the clique.

He said: "A lot of people sitting in the background want something done because the Malik family and other founders are too big a group to be challenged.

"These people see the organisation as their organisation. It should be treated as a charity organisation, which clearly it has not been."