Fund results soon: ACU [#Cambodia #corruption]

Anti-corruption officers yesterday announced that ongoing investigations into fraud in health grants to Cambodia revealed in a Global Fund investigation in December would soon be complete.

The National Anti-Corruption Council (NACC), which oversees the work of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), released a statement yesterday saying that more charges had been brought against officials and further arrests made, but did not provide details.

“[The NACC] listened to the reports carefully on the advice of the ACU and the allegations made by the Global Fund,” it said. “Due to the speed of the effective investigation of the ACU, the NACC believes the case will be finished soon.”

The Global Fund on December 9 threatened to suspend or cut more than $100 million of grants to Cambodia if several recipients failed to pay back the more than $400,000 it said they had siphoned off from the fund.

The fund later backed down on its threat, saying it considered the fraction of misused funds that had at that time been returned a sign of good will.

Global Fund spokesman Seth Faison had not responded to a request for comment by press time, while ACU head Om Yentieng could not be reached for comment.

Top Sam, a director of the NACC, declined to comment on the specifics of the investigations – which were launched in late November – saying only that “everything is under development”.