The Taxpayer’s Association of Europe is calling on the European Union to conduct a thorough investigation into the diversion of humanitarian aid to the camps in Tindouf by Algeria and the Polisario.
In an article on recent developments related to the case, particularly at the European Parliament, the European news site “Eutoday.net” interviewed the Director of the Taxpayer’s Association of Europe’s Brussels office, Walter Grupp, who stresses that nothing has been done since the revelation by the European 2015 Anti-Fraud Office Report.
“I believe that someone at the level of these institutions is not taking this issue seriously,” he says, calling for the protection of European taxpayers’ money by looking into this matter.
Bulgarian MEP, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, who recently raised the issue of the diversion of humanitarian aid at the European Commission, told “Eutoday.net” that the European Parliament “is closely monitoring the situation on the field and will take action when needed.”
“European taxpayers’ money must be spent properly and we must not turn a blind eye when there is such a misappropriation of funds,” he insists.
Eutoday notes that “apart from the parties involved and the political nature of the conflict, this is an internal European debate around transparency and the truth about the work of our European political institutions and systems.”
It is also a question of defending the interests of the people based in Tindouf,
“These very vulnerable people, in addition to being deprived of drinking water and electricity and living in tents in deplorable conditions, must suffer the greed of Polisario leaders who get richer from their misery” it adds.
“Their conditions are getting worse and it is the human cost of the diversion of food aid,” Eutoday.net reports.
HA/fss/as/APA