PHNOM PENH —
Authorities at the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit say they do not have enough evidence to charge officials from the National Malaria Center and other government agencies with corruption.
The center and others are under investigation at the Global Fund, for alleged fraud and financial abuse of grants from the donor.
Among other acts of corruption, the Global Fund, an international financing institution that fights, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, found in an audit that two senior officials at the malaria center had required manufacturers of mosquito bed nets to pay a commission as a condition of obtaining contracts, totaling improper payments of more than $400,000.
But Om Yentieng, head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, told VOA Khmer there is not enough evidence to charge anyone.
That claim, in the face of Global Fund’s own findings, “shows impunity,” said Pich Pisey, a program director for Transparency International Cambodia. “And it will result in lost confidence from citizens.”
The center and others are under investigation at the Global Fund, for alleged fraud and financial abuse of grants from the donor.
Among other acts of corruption, the Global Fund, an international financing institution that fights, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, found in an audit that two senior officials at the malaria center had required manufacturers of mosquito bed nets to pay a commission as a condition of obtaining contracts, totaling improper payments of more than $400,000.
But Om Yentieng, head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, told VOA Khmer there is not enough evidence to charge anyone.
That claim, in the face of Global Fund’s own findings, “shows impunity,” said Pich Pisey, a program director for Transparency International Cambodia. “And it will result in lost confidence from citizens.”
