IRISH CHARITY GOAL has fired some of its staff members as a result of an ongoing investigation into its financial dealings in Turkey and Syria.
It’s understood that the charity has sacked two employees, both of whom are Turkish, as a result of that investigation.
Some funding from the US government’s foreign aid agency USAid has been suspended, after the agency uncovered potential improprieties in procurement practices in Syria, involving the charity.
“Pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation, US funding for certain procurement aspects of Goal’s Syria aid programme (emergency food and NFI), has been suspended,” a spokesperson for the charity told TheJournal.ie today.
Separate from the OIG (Office of Inspector General) process a Goal head office surge team arrived in Turkey two weeks ago and are reviewing all documentation relating to procurements since the start of the programme in Syria.
This will help Goal identify and remedy any potential vulnerabilities in our programme. The surge team are responsible for liaising with Head Office and assisting Goal Syria during this difficult period.
It’s believed that the amount of funding suspended by USAid is in the region of €6 million of the total €113 million the charity receives from the American agency.
“The US Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General is conducting a complex investigation into cross-border aid programs providing humanitarian relief in Syria,” USAid said in a statement.
USAid’s investigation has identified corrupt practices involving a number of these programs operating from Turkey.
The investigation to date has identified a network of commercial vendors, NGO employees, and others who have colluded to engage in bid-rigging and multiple bribery and kickback schemes related to contracts to deliver humanitarian aid in Syria.
In 2012, Goal began providing food assistance and clean water to hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced by the civil war there, which began there in 2011.
The charity describes its Syrian operation as “the largest in Goal’s history”.
Goal provides humanitarian assistance in 17 countries across the world, and has had contracts with the Irish, UK, Dutch, German and US governments as well as the EU, UN and large non-profit organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Oxfam.
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