19 October 2011
Geneva – GENEVA – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will transfer management of a $28.77 million HIV/AIDS grant from Mali’s national AIDS council, the Haut Conseil de Lutte contre le Sida (HCLNS), to a new principal recipient at the end of the year. The decision follows preliminary results from an on-going investigation by the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
Meanwhile, the scope of the grant will be reduced between now and the end of the year to funding of essential services to ensure continuity of treatment for 25,288 people in Mali who receive antiretroviral therapy with Global Fund support. Under the arrangement, it will also be possible to start new patients on treatment.
Funding of all other activities, especially those which could put Global Fund grant money at risk of misappropriation, will be suspended with immediate effect.
Grant funds for essential services will be disbursed gradually under strict conditions and each individual expense will be scrutinized both by a Local Fund Agent (LFA) and a fiduciary agent.
The transfer of management of the HIV/AIDS grant to a new principal recipient is timed to coincide with the end of the first two-year phase of the grant on December 31, 2011.
The Global Fund has asked Mali’s Country Coordinating Mechanism, which represents the Global Fund’s partners in the country, to identify a new principal recipient to manage the second phase of the grant, which would normally run for a further three years.
This is the latest in a series of actions the Global Fund has taken to restore confidence in grant management in Mali after mismanagement of funds was discovered.
Earlier this year the Global Fund suspended another HIV/AIDS grant to Mali, worth $13.91 million, after evidence was discovered by the OIG that grant money was being misused. A new principal recipient has been identified.
That decision followed the announcement in December 2010 of the suspension of funding of two malaria grants in Mali and the termination of a third grant for tuberculosis after evidence of misuse of funds came to light as a result of a separate OIG investigation that identified US$5.2 million in misappropriation and financial losses.
The OIG investigation report was released earlier this year and is available on the Global Fund website. The two malaria grants have been consolidated with another malaria grant and placed under the management of PSI International.
The government of Mali has condemned the misuse of funds and is working with the Global Fund to ensure that grant activities can resume as soon as possible. The Global Fund has asked for the return of the misused funds, and sought assurances from the Government of Mali that efforts will be pursued with vigour through Mali’s courts to hold those responsible for the fraud and losses to account.
The Global Fund has zero tolerance of fraud and corruption. All Global Fund grants are subject to rigorous financial controls and thorough OIG oversight accomplished through audits and investigations both in the countries in which grants are implemented and at the Global Fund’s Secretariat in Geneva. The OIG’s investigation in country is continuing.