CORRUPT REGIMES GET OUR AID CASH ADMITS CAMERON
... so is that what made the Queen look so shocked?
TWO major recipients of British aid are ‘fantastically corrupt’, David Cameron admitted yesterday. The Prime Minister was caught on camera making the candid remark to the Queen at a Buckingham Palace event marking her 90th birthday. He told her a summit in London tomorrow would see ‘the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain’. Singling out Nigeria and Afghanistan for criticism, he told the monarch they were ‘possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world’.
Downing Street stood by the comments – which appeared to leave the Queen visibly shocked – saying the leaders of both countries acknowledged that they had a problem.
But Tory MP Philip Davies called for Nigeria and Afghanistan to be stripped of aid until they clean up their acts.
‘It is completely unjustifiable for the Prime Minister to pour taxpayers’ money into Nigeria and Afghanistan even though he knows they are fantastically corrupt, it is an absolute scandal,’ he said.
The two countries pocketed £435million of British cash last year – despite deep cuts to public services here. Their payments have soared 35 per cent since Mr Cameron took office in 2010.
Peter Bone, another Conservative MP,
said the PM’s pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of Britain’s income on aid meant more cash would inevitably be lost to corruption.
He added: ‘We have got tied to this ridiculous target which means we are more interested in spending money than in where it ends up. It is perverse.
‘Why else are we giving millions of pounds to countries that we know are fantastically corrupt? We just end up lining the pockets of corrupt leaders, bent officials, criminal gangs and, in the worst cases, terrorists.’
Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron’s former Downing Street guru, also criticised his intervention, highlighting a survey by the Economist suggesting the UK has a bigger problem with corruption than countries such as Brazil, France and the United States.
In a message on Twitter, Mr Hilton said: ‘Before anyone gets too complacent, the UK is fantastically corrupt too.’
Mr Cameron’s slip came during an apparent effort to make small talk about preparations for tomorrow’s anti-corruption summit.
He said: ‘We’ve got the Nigerians, actually we’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain. Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.’
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who used to work in Nigeria, appeared to correct the Prime Minister, telling him: ‘But this particular president [Muhammadu Buhari] is actually not corrupt.’
The Queen then asked the archbishop: ‘He’s trying?’ He responded: ‘Oh yes, he’s trying very hard.’
Commons speaker John Bercow, who was also present, then attempted a joke, saying: ‘They are coming at their own expense one assumes?’ Mr Cam- eron replied: ‘Yes, because it’s an anticorruption summit everything has to be open, you see. So there are no closed door sessions. It’s all in front of the press. It could be quite, um, interesting. But there you go.’
Garba Shehu, a spokesman for the Nigerian president, said: ‘It is disturbing that despite all the efforts made by President Buhari in fighting corruption in Nigeria, his efforts have gone unnoticed. It is possible the Prime Minister was caught unawares and was referring to how things were done in the past.’
The Afghan embassy maintained a diplomatic silence last night.
But Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: ‘Muhammadu Buhari won elections last year promising to fight widespread corruption.
‘So to see our Prime Minister talk about him like this is disgraceful. The reason this summit is being held is to help bolster newly elected leaders like Buhari and not to cut them down. The Prime Minister has gaffed, yet again.’
Mr Cameron also drew a rebuke from anti-corruption campaigners, who said he should look closer to home and deal with tax avoidance in British overseas territories, which are blamed for hiding dirty money. The secretive nature of the tax regimes in some dependencies, such as the British Virgin Islands, was highlighted in the recent Panama Papers scandal.
Mr Cameron is no stranger to the danger of unguarded comments in the presence of TV microphones.
In 2014, the Prime Minister was forced to issue a public apology to the Queen after he inadvertently revealed that she had ‘purred’ with pleasure when he told her Scotland had rejected independence. And last year he was recorded talking about Yorkshire people ‘hating each other’.
Comment – Page 14 GLOBAL rankings show Nigeria and Afghanistan really are among the world’s most corrupt countries – yet we give them millions of pounds in aid which could actually fuel corruption.
Transparency International, an international non-governmental organisation, ranks wartorn Afghanistan as the third worst country in the world for corruption, only better than North Korea and Somalia, while Nigeria is 32nd from bottom.
Despite this, Britain gives £237million a year in aid to Nigeria and £198million to Afghanistan, the latest figures show. The total aid spending on the two countries is 35 per cent higher than when David Cameron came to power in 2010.
Two years ago, a report from an aid watchdog found that UK aid fuels corruption in Nigeria, with one scheme increasing the likelihood that locals would have to pay backhanders to the police. The Independent Commission For Aid Impact said the Department for International Development (DfID) was not ‘up to the challenge’ of tackling corruption, often because it was concerned about offending local politicians.
NIGERIA: CORRUPTION
÷ Transparency International’s corruption perception index puts Nigeria at 136 out of 168 countries. ÷ Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, with estimates as high as 400billion US dollars lost since it won independence from Britain in 1960. ÷ A 2014 study by the Independent Commission For Aid Impact found: ‘Petty corruption touches virtually every aspect of life and is accepted throughout society as normal and necessary. We heard stories of parents paying bribes to teachers to educate their children, workers paying bribes to get jobs and receive their salaries, and pensioners paying bribes to receive pensions.’ ÷ It is believed that up to 20billion US dollars have gone missing from
the books of the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. ÷ Millions of dollars meant to be spent on vaccinations and on the fight against ebola have been illegally diverted. ÷ Surveys show that the Nigerian police is seen as the most corrupt institution in the country, with people having to pay bribes before officers will agree to help them.
BUT HERE ARE THEIR AID GRANTS
÷ The UK gave £237million in aid to Nigeria in 2014. More than £1billion has been given to the country since 2010 – despite the fact that it is rich enough to afford a space programme. ÷ The DfID says the money goes towards providing clean water, food, health and education to millions of vulnerable people and does not go to government officials. It also claims there are robust checks to ensure the money is safe from corruption. ÷ A study into a multi-millionpound aid programme to boost schools found that it had produced ‘no major improvement in pupil learning’. Researchers found teachers at subsidised schools frequently failed to turn up and children were left to play football all day. ÷ The Independent Commission For Aid Impact found that after the UK spent millions on a scheme to tackle police bribery in Nigeria, locals said they were even more likely to have to pay backhanders.
AFGHANISTAN: CORRUPTION
÷ Transparency International’s corruption index puts Afghanistan at 166 out of 168 countries. ÷ The New York Times once wrote: ‘ Corruption can no longer be described as a cancer on the system: it is the system.’ ÷ Corruption takes the form of bribes, nepotism, position buying and illegal land transfers. ÷ Policemen are accused of turning a blind eye to or even colluding with criminals and insurgents in smuggling or kidnapping for ransom. ÷ A United Nations survey in 2012 found 50 per cent of Afghans were forced to pay bribes for government services. Money was demanded by teachers, customs officials, judges and prosecutors. ÷ Corruption in Afghanistan goes right the way to the top – with former president Hamid Karzai himself apparently implicated. The Kabul Bank corruption scandal in 2010 saw members of his family and others accused of spending the bank’s money to fuel their lavish lifestyles.
AND HERE’S THEIR AID
÷ In 2014, the UK gave £198million in aid to the country despite its record. The DfID says none of the money goes to the government and is only handed to local charities, with robust checks in place. ÷ Millions have been spent on trying to crack down on the opium and heroin trade, but despite all the efforts the country’s poppy harvest is now at its highest ever level. ÷ Last month it was reported that two schools in Helmand province, which were refurbished using British aid money, are now being used as bases for the Afghan army. ÷ Billions of dollars of aid have been siphoned off by political elites linked to Mr Karzai. Experts believe that much may also have ended up in the hands of the Taliban. ÷ The DfID said our funding supports basic services such as healthcare and education, economic development, and anti-corruption measures.