Scoop: ‘Suspected fraud’ at EU-backed African, Caribbean, Pacific org

“Suspected fraud” on €30,000 of credit card payments (and questions over €97,000 more), almost €1 million in unpaid salaries, and two dozen staff claiming €868,740 in ineligible school fees — these are among the problems facing the European Commission-backed Organisation of African, Caribbean, Pacific States, according to internal documents seen by Devex. The 50-year-old Brussels-based organization is on life support, with an internal battle over who replaces its outgoing Secretary-General Georges Chikoti, and doubts over whether there will be anything left to lead after the commission suspended its decades-long funding last month, citing financial mismanagement. An official from an ACP country, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Devex that the organization is now “completely bankrupt” and makes its 79 members “embarrassed permanently.” ‘More serious than expected’ As recently as November 2023, European Union states signed a new 20-year partnership with the group, known as the Samoa Agreement. At the time, EU officials argued the relationship would provide “a platform for dialogue and coordination” with the global south and pledged to continue financing joint meetings and some operating costs for the OACPS’ 59-person secretariat in Brussels and Geneva. However, the findings in a recent draft audit, paid for by the commission and seen by Devex, were enough to prompt the EU executive to suspend its funding, which was budgeted at €46.7 million for 2021-2027. The top bureaucrat at the commission’s development department wrote to the then-chair of the OACPS’ Committee of Ambassadors on Jan. 27, saying that the findings were “more serious than expected” and that the commission needed to “protect the financial interests of the European Union.” The commission previously told Devex that it spent €36.5 million on the group between 2013 and 2023. As of March 2024, it was trying to recover €3.6 million. An OACPS spokesperson told Devex by email earlier this month that the OACPS is “fully engaging with the European Commission to address all concerns quickly and comprehensively. “Given that only an initial audit report has been tabled, we await the submission of a final version before completing our consideration,” spokesperson Sousa Jamba wrote. “In light of these circumstances, it remains imperative that no definitive conclusions be drawn.” The commission did not reply to requests for comment for this story. Liabilities Founded in 1975, the OACPS was once the main interlocutor between Europe and its former colonies on trade and foreign aid, but its influence has waned in recent years. In early 2023, even French President Emmanuel Macron labeled the format “a bit worn out.” Despite the dire situation, the outgoing management team is claiming €719,852 in repatriation costs back to their home countries when Chikoti’s term as secretary-general ends on Feb. 28. That’s according to an internal OACPS document, dated this week, that put the secretariat’s total liabilities at €5.5 million. That includes: • €2 million owed to the bank, ING. • €941,940 in unpaid staff salaries owed for the months of December 2024 and January and February 2025. • €846,319 for pensions. • €464,736 regarding social security payments. • €64,815 for consulting work on the group’s headquarters, OACP House. (The building in Brussels’ well-heeled Woluwe Saint-Lambert neighborhood was vacated for works in July 2020 but never renovated, costing EU taxpayers more than €6 million in wasted rent for temporary offices.) • €35,445 owed to one staffer for the transportation of personal effects. • €14,670 to cover costs associated with the undocumented migrants who are now squatting in the group’s former headquarters. Devex has reported on problems at the OACPS secretariat for years, including the case of a staffer detained while carrying €81,556 in cash to a conference in Niger, which the secretariat said was to pay participants’ per diems. However, the withdrawal of EU support has thrown the organization’s very existence into doubt. No country will pay its fees until the group undergoes serious reform, the ACP national official told Devex, arguing that a completely new format is required if the group is to survive. Back to school The draft audit states that the EU contributed €3.7 million and the OACPS €5.5 million to the secretariat in 2023. The auditors noted that having multiple funding sources raised the risk of expenditure being claimed on two lines simultaneously — though they said they found no evidence of this in the spending sample they looked at. What they did find was: • Twenty-four staff members, at all levels of seniority, claiming a total of €868,740 for education allowances for 51 dependents. Yet the auditors received only some dependents’ birth certificates, a “very limited number of school certificates” and “did not receive any invoices and proofs of payment for the school fees paid.” The allowance is calculated using school fees from the British School of Brussels, one of the most expensive schools in the EU, and the British Junior Academy. While the policy states that the allowance should be reimbursed to staff from their costs already incurred, in this case, auditors found the allowance came in the form of a lump sum for the maximum possible amount. • €41,613 claimed by OACPS Secretary-General Chikoti for 13 months of employment of a domestic worker (above the permitted 12 months), despite no proof that the worker existed. • Three senior staff members, including Chikoti, and eight other staffers, claiming a monthly dependent child allowance, though they were unable to prove the children were theirs (either biologically, as step-children, or through adoption) or living under the same roof. • Failure to follow “any type of procurement procedure” for the purchase of two iMac computers, two cameras, and 22 e-paper based tablets, for a total of €25,343. ‘Suspected fraud’ The problems do not end there. A separate OACPS analysis of credit cards used by the secretariat, seen by Devex, was ordered by national ministers representing ACP countries and identified €30,083 under the heading “suspected fraud.” The report examined two credit cards used by the secretariat from 2021 to 2024. The report does not say which officials were using the cards, though the list of expenditures mainly covers the activity of Chikoti. “A significant portion of the official expenses were related to travel, Purchase of IT equipments, medical expenses(pharmaceutical), accommodation and hosting costs,” the report states. “However, a number of expenditures lacked explicit justification.” Under the heading, “Suspected fraud,” the document states: “We noted 30,082.73 Euros were claimed to be used for fraudulent activities on one of the card (5476-85**-****-0980) in 2023 which mainly related to purchase of apple itunes.” The records show the suspected fraud took place in 2023, under headings like “SG trip to Solomon Island and Cooks” in November 2023, where there was €14,907 in suspected fraud, and “SG Trip to Fiji” in October 2023, with €14,746 suspected fraud. Out of €326,091 in total spending on the cards over the four-year period, €199,387 was found to be for official transactions and €96,921 for unofficial transactions — defined as those “without sufficient supporting documentation and expenditures outside the scope of official secretariat activities.” The report recommends that the unofficial transactions be refunded to the secretariat’s bank account. The OACPS did not reply to a request for comment from Devex on whether this has been done.