The African Development Bank has admitted that a $55mn integrity fund launched with great fanfare seven years ago has still not been put into operation and has not disbursed any money on its stated anti-corruption purpose.
Non-governmental organisations that have applied for grants from the fund, initiated in November 2016 as a way of combating corruption in Africa, have been told it is not yet up and running.
Failure to deploy the money, collected from companies that settled alleged corruption cases with the Abidjan-based development bank, could raise questions about the efficiency of an institution through which western governments channel billions of dollars to development projects.