How the Clintons’ charities got £50m of British aid cash
TENS of millions of pounds of UK aid money has been siphoned through charities linked to Hillary Clinton, it emerged last night.
British politicians – including Gordon Brown – stand accused of diverting huge amounts of cash through the organisations after falling under the spell of the US presidential candidate and her husband Bill.
At least £50 million of taxpayer-funded foreign aid money has gone to Clinton charities, which are at the centre of allegations in the US that foreign governments used donations to buy influence.
The UK is one of the biggest donors, handing over more than £20 million last year alone to the Clinton Health Access Initiative ( CHAI), an organisation chaired by former President Bill, 68, and whose board includes the couple’s daughter Chelsea, 35. Since 2011, a total of £48.9 million has gone into the coffers of this charity alone.
Tory backbenchers say the revelation is symptomatic of the fact that the Department for International Development has so much money to spend that large amounts have to be simply handed to global charities, often leading to huge amounts of waste.
The Clinton charities are involved in r unning projects receiving some £107 million from DFID since 2009 – although not all of this money went to their organisations.
But critics are concerned that waste at CHAI is so high that British taxpayers may end up paying millions of pounds of management charges – money which they say would be much better spent on front-line disaster relief.
Britain spends £12 billion a year on overseas aid, thanks to a new law which commits the Government to spending 0.7 per cent of national income on international development.
CHAI spends its funds on improving the treatment of HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis in the developing world, mainly in Africa.
But a new book claimed that foreign governments and individuals received favourable treatment from the US government in return for donations to Clinton family charities. The revelations have proved an embarrassment for Mrs Clinton, 67, who has moved to distance herself from the charities.
In 2008, Mr Brown addressed a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. The Clinton Foundation, the main family charity, revealed that the UK Government had been making donations since the following year – when Mrs Clinton took office as US Secretary of State.
The UK’s donations to the Clinton charities took off after then International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell met Mrs Clinton at a UN summit in New York in 2010.
An examination of published payments over £500 made by DFID in 2014 reveals that CHAI received £ 20.2 million, with £4.8million spent up to the end of May this year. In 2013, £13.1 million was handed over, with £9.6 million going to CHAI in 2012 and £1.1 million in 2011.
Before this date there are no published figures. It is not known how much went to the Clinton Foundation.
Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, said: ‘The fact we are spending more and more on aid when we are massively in debt is bad enough, but when it is being tossed away for vanity reasons to ingratiate UK politicians with the rich and powerful in the US … I think most people would find that distasteful and unacceptable.’
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPay- ers’ Alliance, said: ‘The ludicrous aid target means all too often DFID officials are desperate to spend money in any way they can, which is nothing more than irresponsible. We need Dfid to provide far more transparency.’
DFID offered no explanation for its decision to channel funds through the Clinton charities.
The Clinton Foundation said: ‘All contributions from DFID have gone to CHAI. We can confirm that DFID donated to CHAI pre-2010 when it was part of the Clinton Foundation. CHAI is an independent, affiliated entity.’
Comment – Page 16
‘Distasteful and unacceptable’