Did Liberia Charity Workers Steal $1 Million in Aid?
An official from World Vision, a U.S. based charity, claims that over 90 percent of aid sent to Liberia was lost due to fraud, reports the BBC. Workers are believed to have stolen more than $1 million in aid, the group’s Vice-President George Ward, told the news service. Three World Vision workers have been charged in connection to the fraud. They have been charged with 12 counts, including theft, fraud, lying to investigators and witness tampering, reports the news service. The group allegedly sold donated food in markets and hung on to the profits and used charity resources to build themselves homes. The charity was tipped off about the fraud in 2007, two years after it allegedly began. That year, World Vision sent auditors to the Liberian towns that supposedly received aid. According to Ward, they found only 9 percent of the food aid had gone to the needy. And, according to The Associated Press, 34 of the towns didn’t exist. In wake of such scandal, Ward promises that the organization has taken steps to prevent such fraud from taking place in the future. “We can guarantee that we make every effort to ensure that every dollar, every pound sterling, every euro contributed to World Vision is sued in the best possible way and we have an excellent track record in that regard,” he told the BBC. 
 

World Bank to Lend Haiti $121 Million
Last week, the World Bank approved a $121 million four-year lending plan for Haiti, reports Reuters. The money will go towards helping the nation’s struggling economy and assisting with the recovery effort from last year’s devastating tropical storms. “With this new strategy, we are supporting Haiti’s own efforts to put the difficult events of last year firmly behind it, and return to a path toward longer term growth and development,” a World Bank official told Reuters. “The country faces great opportunities, as well as huge challenges, and it needs strong and sustained support from the World Bank Group and other international partners.” The International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group, tapped the agricultural and textile manufacturing sectors as areas for possible growth in Haiti.