Possible fraud suspected in fund raising by 32 EU groups.LONDON -- Charities everywhere are urged to be more competitive and business-like. Some European groups are coming under suspicion for their fundraising practices. Now 30 NGOS NGOS Next Generation Operating System are under investigation by European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community authorities for suspected fraud in securing money from donor bodies to fund projects in the developing world. Officials refused to "name and shame Name and Shame is a practice to discourage some kinds of activity (generally anti-social or criminal) by publishing the names of those involved. The term was coined by British newspapers in the 1980s. " organizations for fear of jeopardizing the investigations by alerting them to the inquiries. Some are well known and operate across EU national borders. Some cases are already in the hands of public prosecutors. The investigators are looking at two main areas of wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do : * NGOS obtain funds on overseas projects by applying to two different donors, in each case without telling the other; * NGOS and charities setup subsidiary companies or units to procure goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. , such as vehicles or utilities for their projects, which makes the projects more expensive, giving the group more money. "They are getting paid twice for the same work," the investigating officials said. "They take the moral high ground, but the effect is to take money away from another NGO NGO abbr. nongovernmental organization Noun 1. NGO - an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal government nongovernmental organization which has an equally good cause to defend. From a moral as well as legal point of view, this is indefensible." In 2004, the EU paid out 570m [euro] (more than CAD$1.4 billion) in humanitarian aid. Sixty per cent of the money went to NGOS, which are, in turn, partially funded by the European commission. More than 22bn [euro] in development aid passes through NGOS. Siim Kallas, the Anti-fraud Commissioner, said that it is time for EU taxpayers and citizens to know exactly how their money is being spent by NGOs in the name of occasionally "ill-defined good causes." |
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