December 2023
Fraud
What is Fraud?
Fraud means providing false or misleading information for personal gain.
Why Should You Care About Fraud?
- Fraud reduces the amount of Global Fund money available for medicines and important program services.
- Fraud results in higher prices of medicines and supplies.
- Fraud results in the supply of sub-standard products and medicines.
- Fraud results in medicine shortages due to theft or non-delivery.
How Do You Spot Fraud in Programs Supported by the Global Fund?
- Falsified documents such as invoices, accounting records or signatures.
- The country of origin of the goods supplied differs from the tender or purchase documents.
- A supplier is located in a residential house and has no website.
- Borrowing project money for personal use or unexplained money transfers.
- A supplier did not deliver the number, type or brand of goods ordered.
- Suspicious-looking documentation supporting a purchase of goods or expense claim.
- Relatives of management are frequently hired.
- Staff and contractors are hired who are not qualified for the job.
How Do You Mitigate Fraud in Programs Supported by the Global Fund?
- Design and implement a robust system of internal controls.
- Adherence to laid down procurement processes.
- Design and enforce segregation of key duties and roles.
- Triangulate payment requests with service delivery data.
- Conduct frequent surprise spot checks of field activities.
- Use centralized payments to program beneficiaries and suppliers.
- Encourage staff, beneficiaries and suppliers to speak out and report suspicious or inappropriate activities.
More Information on Fraud
Some of the most common types of fraud and abuse are listed below. But this doesn’t cover everything. Learn more in "what to report."
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Stealing money or medicine
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Fake invoicing
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Staging of fake training events
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Counterfeiting drugs
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Irregularities in tender processes
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Bribery and kickbacks
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Abuse of power or authority for personal gain
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Conflict of interest
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Personal use of assets
Please, make your report as specific and complete as possible using the following questions as a guide:
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What is the type of wrongdoing you are reporting?
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What happened exactly? Please provide details.
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Where and when did it take place?
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Who was involved? Please share full name, title, and office.
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How did you become aware of this wrongdoing? Did you witness it?
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Do you have evidence of this wrongdoing? (Please provide any evidence that you have) Do you know if evidence exists? How do you know, and where can we find it?
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Who else knows? Can we contact them? (Please provide their contact details)
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Why do you think it should be investigated?
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Do you have any other relevant information?
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) guarantees protection of your identity. If you make a report in good faith, no retaliation will be tolerated. You can remain anonymous regardless of how you choose to report fraud or abuse. Please note, however, that if the OIG cannot contact you for further information or for clarification, it can sometimes make it difficult to investigate your report further.
If you want to remain anonymous, you may use the online form to report your claim. When you complete the online form, you will receive a personal identification number that will allow you to check for updates while at the same enabling the Global Fund to ask follow-up questions. All online submissions are managed by an independent company, which does not turn over your personal information to the OIG.
If you do provide your personal details when making a report, the OIG will not disclose them unless you give your explicit consent.
As soon as possible. Grant recipients are obligated to inform the Office of the Inspector General of all allegations of fraud and abuse as soon as it is known.
Staff at the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will screen your report to determine the most appropriate action. This could lead to an investigation by OIG staff or a referral to national authorities. Alternatively, where appropriate, the matter may be referred to other areas of the Global Fund for action.