The Student Organization Office is currently in the process of investigating a complaint raised by the Hmong American Student Association concerning the withdrawal of organization funds for personal use by a former HASA co-chair.

The organization was first approached last month by a former Hmong Human Rights facilitator who questioned a $1,500 check that was supposed to be written to the nonprofit organization Doctors Without Borders at the end of the 2008 academic year, according to a letter addressed to HASA members from the organization’s co-chairs obtained by The Badger Herald.

The letter went on to say HASA members were unsatisfied with the co-chair’s explanation about the missing check and consequently formed an auditing committee to investigate the lost money.

According to the letter, on the morning of April 21, before HASA’s bank statements could be acquired and reviewed by a member and co-chair as planned, former HASA co-chair Mai Moua set up a meeting with her fellow co-chairs where she confessed to taking HASA funds for personal use.

She also said she had been depositing money throughout the year, according to the letter.

The letter went on to say after hearing Moua’s confession and the amount she had taken, HASA members deemed it prudent to involve a third party to deal with the situation, and a committee was formed to approach the Student Organization Office the following day.

“As soon as this issue was discovered, immediate actions were taken to rectify the situation, which included several budget examinations, the repayment of all funds used, and the dismissal of Mai E. Moua,” HASA co-chairs Birdy Lee, Jerry Chang and Soon Chun Vue said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

The co-chairs went on to say they are disappointed in Moua’s behavior, and due to the seriousness of the issue, they have reexamined the guidelines and security measures of the entire organization.

The situation is currently being addressed by the Multicultural Student Center as well as the Center for Leadership and Involvement, according to Mark Kueppers, CfLI advising coordinator.

“The way our office handles it if an organization comes to us with a complaint or a concern is we’ll look into it and then we’ll follow a protocol and determine if it meets some of the guidelines that potentially put it at odds with being a registered student organization,” Kueppers said.

According to Kueppers, his office has not yet determined if the HASA situation meets such guidelines, but is focusing on making sure the organization has adequate support to move forward in a reasonable fashion.

While it has not been decided if any official policies were violated in this case, Kurt Gosselin, former chair of the Associated Students of Madison’s Student Services Finance Committee, said SSFC does have some standard procedures for dealing with policy violations if and when a formal complaint is made.

“Many are dealt with in-house and result in rectification of the situation internally,” Gosselin said.

Moua could not be reached for comment as of press time.