ACU’s Denial of Graft Belied by Evidence
A recent claim by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) that a public health officer accused of demanding bribes to manipulate lucrative contracts did nothing wrong contradicts admissions of illegal activity by both the government and the officer himself, according to interviews and email messages reproduced in a report by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund report, released earlier this month, accuses public health officials of demanding hefty bribes to secure millions of dollars worth of contracts from several local and international firms. … The ACU announced Friday that it had probed the NCHADS case and found nothing amiss. It said all the purchases “were done correctly and in compliance with public procurement procedures.” But according to the Global Fund report, completed by the international aid agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), both the former NCHADS procurement officer and NCHADS itself admitted to wrongdoing in interviews. NCHADS, the report says, “agreed with the OIG’s findings that its senior procurement officer did orchestrate such improper procurement practices and did receive commissions for personal gain.” According to the report, the procurement officer himself confessed to breaking the law and signed a statement admitting as much. … Reacting to the ACU’s investigation of NCHADS, Seth Faison, the Global Fund’s communications director, said the weight of evidence against the procurement officer presented in the report was self-evident. …
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acus-denial-of-graft-belied-by-evidence-47788/
