Keeping tax-supported officials around the globe accountable

Nicholas, a citizen of an Eastern European nation and a highly respected scientist, worked as the director of a public institution in his country. He had the power to grant funds to research institutions in his country from international organizations, such as the Global Fund, the United Nations, the European Commission and the United States Agency for International Development (which included U.S. taxpayers’ money).

The country’s state civil service bureau, which receives and reviews officials’ income-asset disclosures (IAD), selected his declaration to inspect. The bureau’s staff noticed some red flags when they matched his information on the declaration to the external data sets, such as public land ownership, salaried employees by public resources and police records. Then the board sent the suspected case to the state audit office for further review. Helen, a smart oversight professional from the office, discovered Nicholas had committed a fraud via a conflict of interest (COI) by granting funds under his signature to an institution that, in exchange, had hired his daughter.