26 January 2011
People suffering from malaria are among those whom the Global Fund aims to help
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).
It has been alleged that the fund's controls are poor in some countries and possibly billions of dollars have been siphoned off.
The fund accepts there has been some corruption but says it is small-scale.
It says some of the misuse had been discovered by its own investigative unit, and that where corruption was discovered it was tackled robustly.
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.
'Forged documents'
German Development Minister Dirk Niebel said the claims required a thorough investigation.
"I take the allegations of corruption and breach of trust carried by media against the Global Fund very seriously, and I expect that the fund will promptly clear them up," he said.
"I have halted all further payments to the fund until it is fully cleared up."
A ministry spokesman said more light needed to be shed on $34m of funds allegedly lost because of forged documentation, improper bookkeeping and fraud.
Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said Germany was reacting to misleading media reports.
"Germany has been kept fully informed about all the activities of our inspector general as well as the immediate and firm steps the Global Fund has taken to stop misuse and recover funds," he told AP.
He said any questions Germany may have would be answered by the fund during talks next week in Bonn.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12294232
People suffering from malaria are among those whom the Global Fund aims to help 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).
It has been alleged that the fund's controls are poor in some countries and possibly billions of dollars have been siphoned off.
The fund accepts there has been some corruption but says it is small-scale.
It says some of the misuse had been discovered by its own investigative unit, and that where corruption was discovered it was tackled robustly.
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.
'Forged documents'
German Development Minister Dirk Niebel said the claims required a thorough investigation.
"I take the allegations of corruption and breach of trust carried by media against the Global Fund very seriously, and I expect that the fund will promptly clear them up," he said.
"I have halted all further payments to the fund until it is fully cleared up."
A ministry spokesman said more light needed to be shed on $34m of funds allegedly lost because of forged documentation, improper bookkeeping and fraud.
Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said Germany was reacting to misleading media reports.
"Germany has been kept fully informed about all the activities of our inspector general as well as the immediate and firm steps the Global Fund has taken to stop misuse and recover funds," he told AP.
He said any questions Germany may have would be answered by the fund during talks next week in Bonn.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12294232
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