Somalia audit faults UN corruption claims against government

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia's government says investigators it hired have cleared it of allegations of massive corruption in a report by United Nations experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea

Fowziya Yusuf Haji Adam, Somalia's foreign minister, said forensic accountants from FTI Consulting, Inc. and a legal team from the United States firm Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, PA concluded that the allegations in sections of the U.N. report are factually incorrect.

The U.N. report by experts monitoring the sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea said that 80 percent of withdrawals from Somalia's Central Bank are made for private purposes, indicating it is operating as a patronage system for members of government.

The U.N. report said progress in Somalia is held back by corruption, which is "embedded in all layers of society."