Overseas Aid

House of Lords written question – answered at on 21 November 2011.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Ashcroft Lord Ashcroft Conservative

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Northover on 31 October 2011 (WA 213-14), what are the projects funded by the Department for International Development which have been stopped over the past five years due to the discovery of corruption.

Photo of Baroness Northover Baroness Northover Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Lords Spokesperson (Department for International Development)

Since 2006 DFID have published in the departmental annual report tables of all projects halted during a financial year. The table below identifies all programmes stopped due to issues of corruption:

Country Programme Issue Consequence Year
Uganda Uganda: Joint Budget Support Operation Inaction against corruption found in official report on CHOGM 2007 £5 million withheld and corrective actions reassessed at subsequent Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) review (Nov 2010). Decision taken not to reinstate £5 million as budget support but to reallocate to other programmes 2010-11
Kenya Kenya Education Sector Support (KESSP) Fraud discovered in September 2009 by Government of Kenya Internal Audit Department Resulted in £10 million not being disbursed to KESSP and the withdrawal of DFID funding through government systems 2009-10
Malawi Poverty Reduction Budget Support Purchase of Presidential plane Planned PRBS of £22 million reduced to£19 million (equivalent to annual cost of plane over next 5 years). 2009-10
Malawi Support to Parliament Concerns about misuse of funds, exposed by audit(Feb 2009) £300,000 in funds remaining on project (out of £800,000) suspended pending full investigation into use of other funds. Requested return of funds spent outside agreed terms of MOU 2009-10
Uganda PRBS-General Budget Support (GBS) Lack of progress on high level corruption Withholding of £2.5 million in 2009-10 2009-10
Zambia PRBS II Embezzlement of funds in the Ministry of Health £11 million of DFID's total PRBS of£31.5 million in 2009 due to be paid in May was delayed due to uncovering serious embezzlement of funds. £9 million was subsequently released in July 2009. The remaining £2 million was released in Oct 2009 after agreed actions were carried out. 2009-10
Tanzania PRBS Variable tranche withheld due to poor provision of results information and weak action on corruption allegations Variable tranche of £11.5 million withheld-notice given in April 2008 for 2008-09 financial year (Jun-July) 2008-09
Sierra Leone PRBS One-third of budget support was dependent on government performance against agreed indicators. Government failed to meet some indicators on anti-corruption and financial management Budget support was reduced from£15 million to £12.5 million. 2006-07
Vietnam Vietnam Rural Transport 2 project Alleged corruption involving the project Management Unit in the Ministry of Transport The remaining £1.4 million for the project was suspended, pending a full investigation. The money was paid in October 2006 following government investigations and efforts to strengthen anti-corruption. 2006-07

Does this answer the above question?

Yes1 person thinks so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.