Germany halts Aids fund payment over corruption claims
Baku, January 27 (AZERTAC). Germany has suspended its annual payment of more than 200m euros (£172m) to the Global Fund against Aids, TB and malaria, following corruption claims.
Germany is the third-biggest donor to the UN-backed fund, which has an annual budget of more than $20bn (£12bn).
Media reports speculate that billions of dollars may have been siphoned off.
But the Fund said the sums concerned were far smaller and it had "one of the most intensive investigation regimes of any international organization".
It says the misuse was discovered by its own investigative unit. It says $34m of misappropriated or unsubstantiated funds have been demanded back as a result.
The Global Fund is the biggest single source of money to tackle the three big killer diseases.
The allegations of corruption were raised in reports by The Associated Press (AP) news agency.
German Development Minister Dirk Niebel said the claims required a thorough investigation.
Jon Liden, a spokesman for the Global Fund, confirmed that the misuse of some $34m of funds had been uncovered in nine countries by the Fund`s own inspector general, following investigations in 33 of the 145 countries the Fund is active in.
He said the most grievous instances of fraud had been found in Mali, Mauritania, Djibouti and Zambia - but said in three of those cases it was the Fund`s own regular audits which picked up the irregularities, and that they had been made public over previous months by the Fund itself.
He acknowledged that there "are probably more instances of misuse to be uncovered", but said media reports suggesting the sums concerned could amount to billions were likely to be wildly inaccurate.
Mr. Liden said he did not "blame [Minister Niebel] for being nervous. He has said he wants a full review of our procedures to reassure himself. We are more than welcoming that - we are very confident that our procedures will stand up to scrutiny".
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