Corruption allegations hit India's NACO

India's National AIDS Control Organization has come under fire from foreign aid groups over allegations of corruption. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria recently announced a review of its India operations, following a critical report by the World Bank of the NACO's performance. The Global Fund, however, stated it has no evidence that any of the $170.0 million donations it has made to projects in India were affected.

The World Bank had indicated in a study published last month that almost 90% of contracts issued in India using its funds showed evidence of fraudulent activity. Taufiqur Rahman, a spokesman for the Global Fund, told Reuters that, although the issue is being treated seriously, "it's a review just to make sure, given the World Bank report, that our investments are protected."

The USA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation's director of global advocacy, Terri Ford, took a firmer line, saying: "I worry that large donors...took too long to wake up to the rampant corruption within NACO and the State AIDS Control Society." The AHF's local representative also claimed that earlier warnings from 2005 were ignored.