Today’s (5 January) Daily Mail and Mail Online have published stories which allege that DFID is providing billions of pounds of UK aid to the world’s most corrupt countries.
The UK takes it commitment to protecting taxpayers' money seriously, and no UK aid goes directly to the governments of any of the most corrupt countries in the world. All of our programmes are designed with a range of safeguards to tackle fraud, and our support in these countries only goes to trusted partners.
A DFID spokesperson said:
“DFID does not provide UK aid directly to the governments of any of the most corrupt countries in the world.
“UK aid only goes to trusted partners to save the lives of people living in extreme poverty, and DFID has tough measures in place to protect taxpayers’ money.
“By working in the most fragile and dangerous parts of the world, UK aid makes us safer at home by tackling problems which would otherwise arrive on our doorstep.”
DFID uses monitoring visits, financial spot checks and forensic and strict independent audits to ensure all funding is used for the purposes it was intended. We also have a counter fraud and whistleblowing unit with dedicated resource assigned to investigating any misappropriation of funds.