An Asian community leader today hit out at the decision by a major Bradford-based pension scheme to invest £31 million in alcoholic drinks.

The West Yorkshire Superannuation Fund, run by Bradford Council, has invested in the alcohol industry to raise pension money for its thousands of members.

It also holds equity worth £142.4 million in oil.

But the ex-general secretary of Bradford Council for Mosques, Faquir Mohammed, said the hundreds of Muslim workers in Bradford Council would have objected strongly if they had been aware of it.

He said: "Muslims should not even work in a place where alcohol is sold or produced. It is in the Koran. I think what is happening is wrong."

Mr Mohammed spoke out as the leader of the Council's Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, called for an ethical statement and said members should decide where their money was invested.

The figures have been revealed in a report to Bradford Council's policy and resources committee.

It shows the fund - which covers workers in 16 organisations including all five West Yorkshire councils and the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority - holds £300 million in investment.

Today one Council officer who did not want to be named said: "We should know morally where the money goes. You are obviously not obliged to join but it is far better than any other outside scheme.

"I think a lot of people will be unhappy about oil, particularly, and its effects on the rain forest."

The scheme is legally obliged to try to make the best returns for the people in the scheme.

But Coun Sunderland said it should have an ethic investment policy in line with other institutions such as the Co-operative Bank, so that people would know where their money was invested.

"Given the Council's commitment to sustainability and Local Agenda 21 it is interesting that the fund invests in such industries as the oil industry.

"We feel that members of the superannuation fund scheme should be given the chance to decide whether or not they are happy with this present state of affairs. People should be given ethical statements so they know exactly what they are paying into."

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