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HomeMedico-LegalSA HIV consultant arrested in US on money laundering charges

SA HIV consultant arrested in US on money laundering charges

SickleSouth African HIV consultant Dr Eugene Sickle has been arrested for money laundering linked to US funding for HIV/Aids programmes, reports The Times.

“Special agents apprehended Dr Sickle in Washington‚ DC‚ for offences committed in relation to USAID-supported HIV/Aids programmes in South Africa‚” the US Office of the Inspector General said.

The Office of the Inspector General monitors US-funded programmes overseas which fall under the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The report says Sickle resigned in May last year from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI)‚ where he served as the deputy executive director: strategy and development.

IN 2012‚ USAID awarded three cooperative agreements worth nearly $77m (about R1bm) to the institute to strengthen treatment programmes for HIV/Aids patients and support the government in its plans to treat at-risk populations.

“Sickle resigned from his position last year following the discovery of his potential involvement in the submission of fraudulent documents to WRHI‚” the inspector general’s office said.

USAID staff reported Sickle’s resignation and evidence of questionable transactions to the Office of the Inspector General‚ which opened an investigation. USAID Inspector-General Ann Calvaresi Barr said: “Any fraud in US foreign assistance programmes is unacceptable‚ but fraud in global health programs is all the more troubling.”

The Office of the Inspector General made the arrest with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations directorate and, the report says, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia will prosecute the case.

The University of the Witwatersrand has not yet responded to the latest development, the report says.

[link url="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/02/09/US-special-agents-arrest-top-SA-scientist-for-laundering-HIVAids-funds"]The Times report[/link]

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