Salary Fraud and Abuse Affecting Global Fund Grants
28 February 2020
There has been a noticeable rise in the number of allegations relating to salary fraud and abuse affecting Global Fund grants. These cover a wide range of alleged wrongdoing, including staff being forced to pay regular kickbacks, unauthorized salary contribution schemes, staff not receiving their full salaries, the submission of fraudulent salary claims, and non-staff receiving salary payments from grant funds.
In Nigeria, senior management at an HIV grant sub-recipient directed and enforced a salary kickback scheme resulting in the misappropriation of US$166,930 of Global Fund grant funds. In Indonesia, a salary subsidy scheme implemented by a sub-recipient resulted in the misdirection of US$35,310 of Global Fund grant funds.
As a result of this investigation, the Global Fund has enhanced its Guidelines for Grant Budgeting to prohibit implementers and Country Coordinating Mechanisms from soliciting payments from staff, or requiring them to contribute to sustainability funds.