Schaefer: AusAID tough on fraud, corruption

 HEAD of AusAID in Papua New Guinea, Stuart Schaefer, says very stringent procedures are in place to ensure that there is no fraud and corruption within the largest source of donor funds in PNG.

“We have a very strong fraud and anti-corruption policy,” he told The National when asked about possible fraud and corruption within the programme.

“We make no bones about that and we’re very public about that.

“We do not tolerate fraud and corruption within the aid programme.

“We have a very clear and transparent procurement method.

“Any companies around the world that will be able to provide services that are part of the aid programme, once we’ve gone through the procurement processes bit; we follow up and have very strong monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

“For example, with the procurement of medical supplies around the country, once these supplies are delivered to the health clinic, what we do is we get the contractor to take a photograph of these supplies in the place that provides us with a GPS location.

“The GPS location is a photograph that tells us that, yes, these drugs have been delivered to that health centre on a particular day.”