http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12563European Court of Auditors' report says billions given by European Union to economically struggling Palestinian Authority have been "lost to corruption" • Report finds "significant shortcomings" in spending of aid funds allotted between 2008 and 2012.
Some 1.95 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in aid funds given by the European Union to the Palestinian Authority between 2008 and 2012 have been "misspent, squandered or lost to corruption," a report by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors revealed over the weekend.
According to a report by Britain's Sunday Times, the report -- which has yet to be released in full -- claims that EU officials who traveled to the Gaza Strip, West Bank cities and east Jerusalem found "significant shortcomings" in the PA's management and appropriation of the funds, as well as difficulties is dealing with "high-level risks, such as corruption or funds not used for their intended purpose."
The recent report by the European Court of Auditors, an organization that was set up in 1975 to oversee the EU's own financial conduct, found that Brussels had little control over the way the aid funds transferred to the West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip between 2008 and 2012 were used.
The Berlin-based Transparency International organization, a watchdog monitoring corporate and political corruption, said that the political stalemate crippling the Palestinian parliament since 2007 has "given [Ramallah] executives unlimited management over public funds," adding that nepotism was very common in the Palestinian public and private sectors.
Israel has repeatedly expressed concern over the way the Palestinians were utilizing the financial aid afforded them by the international community. The recent European Court of Auditors report has reaffirmed Jerusalem's claims.
Topic: EU says PA 'squandered' 1.95 billion euros in aid (Read 1761 times)