Somalia: Government Says Report Rebuts Fiscal Mismanagement Charges
Somalia said Friday that a foreign investigative team hired by the government had rebutted allegations of financial mismanagement by United Nations monitors. The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea issued a report in July in which it charged that Somalia’s central bank functioned effectively as a “slush fund.” The government report, released Friday but dated Aug. 30, said that the “allegations and purported findings have no basis in fact.” Charges of endemic corruption have made it difficult for Somalia’s year-old government to receive money directly from donors and to reclaim overseas assets. Jarat Chopra, the United Nations group’s coordinator, questioned whether the law firm and the consultancy retained by the government had financial conflicts of interest. “The Monitoring Group is standing by its findings, which are based on the evidence it obtained during its investigations,” said Mr. Chopra.
http://nytimes.com/2013/09/07/world/afr ... ef=eritrea&
