UK taxpayer cash funding terror in Syria: Panorama

THE Government has suspended a foreign aid scheme after an investigation claimed that taxpayers’ money was being used by extremists in Syria.

Officers from the Free Syrian Police (FSP), the civilian police force backed by Britain, have also been working with courts accused of torture and summary executions, BBC One’s Panorama alleged.

According to documents seen by the programme, police officers in Aleppo province were forced to hand over funds to the extremist group in control of the area, Nour al-Din al-Zenki.

Evidence also showed that the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra, had handpicked police officers for two stations in Idlib province, it said.

Britain is one of six countries funding the FSP, which was set up after the Syrian uprising.

Adam Smith International (ASI), the British company that runs the project, said it had managed taxpayers’ money “effectively to confront terrorism”.

The BBC programme, Jihadis You Pay For, which will air this evening, claims documents also showed that dead and fictitious people were on the FSP payroll.

When the company visited one police station, supposedly the base for 57 police officers, it could not find a single officer, the investigation found.

ASI said it accounted for the officers on subsequent visits and that it had found very few instances of dead officers remaining on the salary list in Syria.

It said it used cash because there was “no practical alternative” and that officers imposed by Jabhat al-Nusra were detected within two months.

ASI said: “ASI has managed the project successfully alongside our partner in an extremely challenging, high-risk environment under the close supervision of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and five other governments.”

An FCO spokesman said it took allegations of co-operation with terrorist groups and of human rights abuses extremely seriously and had suspended this programme while the matter was investigated.”

“We believe that such work in Syria is important to protect our national security interest but of course we reach this judgment carefully given that, in such a challenging environment, no activity is without risk.

“That is why all our programmes are designed carefully and subject to robust monitoring,” the spokesman added.

BBC Panorama: Jihadis You Pay For, is on BBC One at 7.30pm.