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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Germany Suspends Payments To Global Health Fund

Germany's development ministry said Wednesday it will halt all payments to a $21.7 billion global health fund until it gets answers about corruption allegations raised in articles by The Associated Press.

The ministry said its pledge of euro200 million ($270 million) will be withheld from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria pending a full investigation by Germany into the corruption that the fund's own investigators are turning up.

"We obviously look very closely at the (donated) money now. It's the money of German taxpayers, so we have to make sure that it was rightly used," a ministry spokesman told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with German government policy.

The spokesman said it was demanding that the fund shed more light on the $34 million in losses due to forged documents, improper bookkeeping and other widespread fraud and has summoned a Global Fund representative to discuss the reports.

The AP reported Sunday that the fund's new investigative unit found high percentages of contract money eaten up by corruption. Germany is the fund's third largest government donor behind the U.S. and France, having pledged euro600 million for 2011-13.

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1 comment:

McGruff said...

So what's the US doing?
Nothing.
Just throwing more money at it because it says 'AIDS'.
At least the Germans know whose money they're using.