Mauritania is lauded by World Bank as exemplary for fighting AIDS
Project coordinator, executive director of national anti-AIDS program detained for embezzling public funds, corruption.
DAKAR - Two senior officials of Mauritania's national anti-AIDS program, a project funded by the World Bank, have been imprisoned for embezzling funds and corruption, a legal source said Tuesday.
"The project coordinator and the executive director have been placed in provisional detention for embezzling public funds, forgery and corruption," the source, who did not want to be named, said.
He added that two other officials of the same project, the financial director and the accountant, had fled. There are international warrants out for their arrest.
The World Banks MAP-AIDS project in Mauritania is lauded on the institution's website as exemplary for the fight against AIDS in Africa and even won an award for best performance at the World Bank-UNAIDS 2008 meeting.
The legal source could not say how much money was allegedly embezzled but several Mauritanian media quoting unnamed World Bank sources reported it was over 1.7 million dollars (1.1 million euros).