Taxpayers' money given to corrupt charities
Government will not say where cash obtained by fraudulent means has gone
The Government department in charge of Britain's £5.6bn aid budget has been accused of "unjustifiable secrecy" because it is refusing to disclose the names of charities and developing countries found to have fraudulently obtained money donated on behalf of UK taxpayers.
Figures obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Department for International Development has lost nearly £720,000 over the past five years as a result of "fraud, corruption and abuse" by governments in the developing world or NGOs using British funds.
But DfID has refused to release a detailed list of the projects and countries where fraud has been uncovered, saying that to do so would jeopardise the UK's relationship with foreign governments and risk further abuse by detailing the nature of the offence. And it has also refused to give details of exactly how much money has been misused
The decision to protect the identity of corrupt charities and governments was greeted with anger by campaigners and opposition politicians, who said the policy ran contrary to pledges of transparency in the aid system and risked undermining public confidence in Britain's strong stance on supporting the developing world.
Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: "This is information that should be unquestionably put in the public domain. In the context of DfID's overall budget, these are the sort of sums that would have been misappropriated by junior officials or an NGO and it is difficult to see how disclosure would be capable of harming international relations. It may well be true that the details of certain claims cannot be disclosed, in particular if they relate to as yet unproven allegations. But to insist on blanket anonymity smacks of unjustifiable secrecy."
DfID took five months to reply to the FOI request from The Independent for details of anti-corruption investigations conducted by its Counter Fraud Unit. But it said it had recovered, via investigations, £719,000 since 2005 relating to "budgetary support" or direct funding of developing world governments and money supplied to charities, including thousands of local NGOs.
The department said the list identifying specific fraud cases was being withheld to protect Britain's "good working relationships" with foreign governments and international organisations.
In its FOI response, DfID said: "Disclosing sensitive information relating to them would be likely to damage these relationships; harm DfID's ability to work with and influence other donors in eradicating poverty and undermine the UK's ability to respond to international development needs."
The department has adopted a robust stance on investigating allegations of fraud or corruption. In December last year, the Government announced it had frozen funding to the Ministry of Education in Kenya and issued visa bans against 20 Kenyan officials after $1.3m (£850,000) to buy learning materials went missing. The Nigerian authorities are also trying to trace £165,000 of DfID funding for training teachers which has disappeared. Over the past three years, DfID has also given funding of £4.7m to specialist units in the City of London and Metropolitan Police forces dedicated to investigating fraud. Scotland Yard's Proceeds of Corruption Unit has seized or frozen assets of more than £140m since 2006. But DfID said it was "not aware" that any of the recoveries or seizures by the two police forces included money that it had donated abroad.
Andrew Mitchell, the Conservative spokesman on international development, told The Independent that while the naming and shaming of foreign governments or charities found to have acted fraudulently should be considered on a case-by-case basis, there was no justification for blanket anonymity.
He said: "Taxpayers will be rightly angered that their money appears to have been misspent."
A DfID spokesman said: "We do not tolerate corruption and actively pursue those who misuse resources meant for the poor. Every one of DfID's programmes is subject to rigorous safeguards and careful monitoring to minimise the risk of fraud or misuse of UK funds. DfID's counter-fraud unit has recovered £719,000 relating to budgetary support or NGO funding over the past five years, which is a clear signal of DfID's commitment to fighting fraud and corruption wherever we find it."
£720,000
British funding lost through fraud, corruption and abuse by governments in developing countries and NGOs.
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Comments
The Danish govt have a very interesting approach to international aid - they administer it themselves locally via their embassy and they don't have this type of fraud occurr. Then again, the Danish, and probably everyone else has more accountability to their citizens than the UK will ever have.
it probably will turn out that the relevant civil servants were getting a cut of the frauds.
zanulabour could not manage a sweet shop let alone a budget
I receive at least three requests for money per day from charities in Africa and the UK. I have no idea which ones are legit. We are giving blindly.
I have been trying to find out which charities are legitimate. Is there a web site that provides this info? It would also be a good idea if the charities would indicate the amt of donated money that is NOT used for administration.
It's very hard to know how much reaches the really needy and unless we are prepared to upset the local power base (and that usually brings loud shrieks of of ex-colonial power reverting to type), we just have to put up with it. It's really inefficient, but that's life. Charities on the ground doing their own distribution can help, but they are far from immune to the pressures of local corruption.
What would really help would be total transparency in Switzerland, land of confidential numbered accounts beloved of developing countries' leaders and administrators. Pigs will be flying first, though.
The money just leavse Britain, and is cleaned and dlibvered into various hands. Gov. Now, How can we cut services in Britain to SAVE MONEY. Wise up folks... Do your own research online !
Your being ripped off !
In respectful response to Toronto68: Aside from the corruption, is charity and voluntary giving not a beautiful thing? If given the opportunity, it is my belief that most people will give without being forced to by taxation, especially when such forced giving is misappropriated thus. What makes government executives any less corrupt than big business or NGO execs? I would say surely that NGOs are the most trustworthy as their sole aim is the appropriation of funds for aid purposes, as opposed to business (to make profit and NOTHING ELSE) and government (to become re-elected/to serve their top echelon's whim).
All we're really told in this article is that there is a Freedom Of Information issue, which the only commenting politician, shadow international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, attempts to make some political hay from - while then backing the Government / DfID's stance on the matter of disclosure.
You could argue that the figures given actually flatter the DfID, the Government and the Proceeds Of Corruption Unit for taking decisive action to tackle corruption - �144 000 lost p.a but a Kenyan education budget of �850k p.a. frozen. Kenyan pupils and teachers will no doubt be delighted that somebody cleaned up in Nairobi, and now the DfID's cleaning up even more in Whitehall.
All of this misses the much bigger scandal, that of the changing, I'd say corrupting, of what we actually mean by 'international development' as practised by the DfID. The clearest example of this is the rarely reported-on CDC, still under the Dfid's control, still taxpayer funded.
The onetime Commonwealth Development Corporation, which in 1998 was providing assistance to commercial enterprises in some 54 developing countries around the world, announced a programme for its own privatization by the end of early 1999. The privatisation was designed to expand its capital base and broaden its range of operations.
Privatization enabled the CDC to borrow from capital markets. The UK government sold a majority share of the CDC to its own board at a bargain basement price, guaranteeing fortunes for them, but retained a "golden share". This helped preserve the CDC's "unique character and development goals as an ethical and responsible investor." [CDC's country manager for Zimbabwe, Mr. Christopher Brain, 1998]
What happened next?
I'll leave it to War On Want to explain.
http://www.waronwant.org/news/press-rel
Why does the Independent so often miss the *real* story?
http://www.fakecharities.org/
How do the 'western' governments do this? ...through charity's!
How else are these 'subversive' and 'terrorist' organisations getting their funding?
If any one wans to know about the 'Charitable' organisation that is subverting and undermining this country on behalf of the Bankster Globalists then look up 'Common Purpose'. Totally supported by the treacherous LibLabCon and is currently undermining a Council, Police Service, NHS Trust and Education Authority near you.
Simple message... STOP GIVING TO CHARITIES.
What happened to the "open and transparent government" Brown was lying about only yesterday?
h0rat1us there will be another government - Whitehall doesn't stop. Do you want an international development programme? If so, of what kind?
bbbiii governments may well be corrupt but the DfID is not the same as major established charities, not the same money, not the same causes. To conflate the two is to become a footsoldier for dictators.