Beaudesert horse rescuer Amanda Vella’s Save a Horse Australia charity is under investigation by the State Crime Command’s Stock and Rural Crime Investigation Squad (SARCIS).
SARCIS detectives conducted seven searches on June 14 which included president Amanda Vella’s home at Beaudesert and the treasurer’s property at Greenbank.
Four horse sanctuaries located at Tarampa, Minden, Buccan and Caligraba and another residence in Inala were also raided.
Detectives were acting on allegations that public donations from across Australia and overseas had been misused.
Charity volunteer Jen Malloch said the allegations and the raids have left Ms Vella distressed.
“We are all very upset by this,” she said.
Ms Malloch said the group willingly surrendered their computers, phones and books to the police which have since been returned.
“We feel that this is a smear campaign,” she said.
“We don’t agree that we should have been raided.”
Ms Malloch said the search warrants were vague and took aim at a group of “disgruntled” former volunteers.
“We welcome this investigation, we want to stop these people making allegations,” she said.
“We would like to mention that these are just allegations and no one has been charged.”
Ms Malloch said their books were immaculate and they had been audited after previous claims of funds misuse.
“We get no government grants and we rely solely on donations,” she said.
“Our funds haven't been frozen, and we are continuing to care for these animals.”
The Save a Horse group currently has 158 horses in care.
Additional comment has been sought from the Queensland Police Service.
An earlier statement from SARCIS said investigations were continuing.
Investigators from Forest Hill SARCIS have been working with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission based in Melbourne for the last year and have established an investigation centre.
