Probes into theft from UK foreign aid budget have quadrupled since 2010 with £3.2m stolen last year alone
Fears officials have lost control of £12 billion fund after investigation finds UK cash has been diverted to 'radical groups'
INVESTIGATIONS into money stolen from the UK’s Aid budget have quadrupled since 2010, amid fears officials have totally lost control of the £12billion fund.
And a damning probe into the Department for International Development found UK cash has been diverted to “radical groups.”
Last year more £3.2million of British taxpayers’ cash was found to be fraudulently stolen in 429 reported cases, according to the National Audit Office.
But the true figure is likely to be far higher as Whitehall’s official accountants found fraud cases are rarely reported in the most corrupt countries the UK works with.
This is more than four times the number of probes launched in 2010.
The NAO said UK Aid cash was under constant threat from a whole range of threats including “fraud, terrorism financing, money laundering and bribery.”
Aid boss Priti Patel insisted that the spike is due to tougher scrutiny being enforced by the Department for International Development.
However the latest shocking report will heap pressure on Theresa May to ditch the Government’s legal commitment to give away 0.7 per cent of the UK’s output.
Last night former Aid minister Grant Shapps blasted the “deeply worrying” revelations about radical groups.
The Tory MP hit out: “I’m a huge supporter of Britain doing in a bit our bit in the world, but that will not be able to continue unless the public can be shown that every penny of aid is spent wisely.”
The NAO found that the worst offending countries were Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but they had the lowest number of reported cases of fraud.
Meanwhile Iraq, Zimbabwe and South Sudan also had high levels of fraudulent activity taking place with British cash, but a slightly better track record at clamping down on theft.
The NAO added that it was “particularly challenging” to detect fraud in more than half of UK Aid spending because the money was channelled through international organisations like the UN.
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Nearly 40 per cent of DFID’s fraud cases between 2003 and 2016 involved non-governmental organisations (NGOs) while governments accounted for 6.5 per cent — 0.3 per cent of the cases involved radical groups.
Financial crimes in UN organisations are believed to be under-reported and it is likely fraud is “significant and endemic”.
Last night DFID claimed to have recovered two thirds of its fraud losses.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “In the last three years DFID has overhauled its approach to fraud, meaning our robust systems are better at preventing and detecting fraud, and better at getting taxpayers’ money back.
“The UK operates in the most fragile countries because these are the places where the poorest are dying from starvation, drought and disease; these are the places where conflict and economic failure drive mass migration; and these are the countries where it is in the UK’s direct national interest to keep them stable and secure.
She added: “We expect all international agencies to have the same zero tolerance approach to fraud that we have if they are to receive taxpayers’ money.
“It is time for the global aid community to be honest about the challenges it faces to increase the transparency and accountability of the international aid system.”