As of 19 September 2013, $118 million in losses had been identified by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), of which $23.8 million (20%) had been recovered. Written commitments to repay a further $10.4 million had been obtained.

This information was contained in a Losses and Recoveries Report prepared for the Global Fund Board meeting on 7–8 November in Geneva.

In all, there have been 44 cases where losses have been identified. The Global Fund said that nine of these cases had been fully resolved, and a further 10 partially resolved.

Of the 44 cases, 21 are either closed or in progress. In the other 23 cases, recovery efforts have not yet started. The Global Fund said that these 23 cases will be presented to the Recoveries Committee by the end of this year.

The 21 cases that are either closed or in progress represent losses of $77.3 million (as identified by the OIG). The Secretariat has adjusted this figure downwards by $13.2 million (17%). As explained below, adjustments are usually made as a result of additional documentation provided by the implementers. Another $1.0 million has been written off. No explanation was provided concerning on how decisions on write-offs were made.

The 23 cases for which recovery efforts have yet to begin represent losses of $40.4 million (as identified by the OIG).

Table 1 provides a summary of the losses and recoveries.

Table 1: Losses and recoveries – Summary (in thousands of dollars)

Table 2: Cases closed (all amounts are in thousands of dollars)

Table 3 contains information on the 12 cases in progress. The largest amount deemed recoverable was $9,876,000 from an audit in Zambia, followed closely by $9,342,000 from an audit in Ghana, and $8,779,000 from an audit and an investigation in Nigeria. None of the outstanding amounts for Ghana and Nigeria has yet been recovered.

Table 3: Cases in progress (all amounts are in thousands of dollars)

Table 4 provides information on the cases where recovery efforts are not yet underway. The largest amount of loss was $8,915,000 from an audit and investigation in Djibouti. Four of the cases stem from audits for which reports were issued as far back as 2011.

Table 4: Cases pending (where recovery efforts have not yet begun)

The recoveries process

Losses are first identified by the OIG when it conducts an audit or an investigation. The losses consist of expenditures the OIG deems fraudulent, ineligible or unsupported; or recoverable for other reasons (such as income earned through grant activities that was not declared). Then, the Global Fund’s Legal Counsel reviews each case to determine if the Fund is entitled to make a claim for recovery.

The Secretariat is responsible for managing recoveries. As a first step, the Secretariat considers possible adjustments to the amounts identified by the OIG. Usually, the adjustments are based on additional documentation and explanations submitted by grant implementers after the OIG had completed the audit or investigation. For the 21 cases that are closed or in progress, the Secretariat adjusted the amount of losses in 13 of the cases.

The recoveries process is managed by a Recoveries Committee, made up of the Chief Risk Officer (who chairs the committee), the head of the Grant Management Division, the Treasurer and the head of Legal and Compliance. The OIG is invited to each committee meeting as an observer. The Recoveries Committee is supported by a recoveries team, comprising members of the four departments represented in the committee. The recoveries team works with the Secretariat country teams to bring cases to a resolution. Decisions on recovery actions are taken by the Executive Director on the advice of the Recoveries Committee.

The OIG conducted an audit on the effectiveness of the process and controls related to the recovery efforts. A report on the results of the audit was provided to the Secretariat but has not been made public. A brief summary of the results was included in an annex to the OIG Progress Report – June to October 2013.

The Recoveries Committee has agreed, a result of the audit, that by the end of this year it will clear the recoveries case backlog, and develop policies and guidelines which will define the roles and responsibilities of the various players involved in the recovery process. When the report on losses and recoveries was discussed at the Board meeting in Geneva, Cees Klumper, Chief Risk Officer and Chair of the Recoveries Committee, said that the committee is trying to speed things up, and that it hopes in future to be able to start the recoveries process within four weeks of the OIG issuing its report.

The Board decided at its 23^rd meeting in May 2011 that a report on losses and recoveries was to be prepared for each Board meeting. However, the report prepared for the latest Board meeting was only the second such report (see GFO article).

Information for this article was taken from and Board Document GF-B30-09, “Losses and Recoveries Report.” This document should be available shortly at www.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/thirtieth. Board Document GF-B30-14, “OIG Progress Report – June to October 2013,” should be available shortly at the same site.