USAID’s inspector general closed an investigation into an alleged $393,000 foreign-aid fraud after two U.N. offices declined to provide information needed to pursue the case, even though U.N. investigators had previously referred findings of criminality to Venezuela’s Maduro-led government.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A federal watchdog has closed an investigation into the suspected loss of nearly $400,000 in U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance in Venezuela after United Nations offices repeatedly declined to provide records needed by American investigators, despite U.N. investigators having previously referred findings of criminality in the case to Venezuela’s Maduro-led government.
The U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General announced Tuesday that it could no longer pursue the investigation because neither the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, nor the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, known as OIOS, would provide information identifying potential subjects or allowing investigators to develop additional leads.
According to the watchdog’s investigative summary, the case involved an unnamed Venezuelan organization selected to implement two OCHA projects in 2021 and 2022 with a combined value of $900,000. Investigators received allegations that fraud involving the organization resulted in approximately $393,000 being lost from programs intended for Venezuela.
USAID OIG sought additional information from both U.N. offices so its investigators could independently evaluate the allegations and determine whether further investigative action was warranted.
Those efforts were unsuccessful.
“Despite repeated formal and informal requests, USAID OIG did not receive information and records necessary to identify subjects and develop additional investigative leads to support its investigation,” the watchdog said.
OIOS told the federal investigators that releasing identifying information concerning people implicated in the matter could violate their due process rights. The U.N. oversight office also said its established framework did not authorize it to provide the requested identifying information to USAID OIG.
OCHA separately maintained that it lacked authorization to turn over the records and information the American investigators wanted.
Without those materials, USAID OIG said it could not identify additional investigative subjects, follow potential leads or independently establish whether criminal, civil or administrative proceedings should follow.
The watchdog therefore terminated the investigation without determining whether any such U.S. enforcement action was warranted.
The decision does not amount to a finding that no fraud occurred. Instead, the inspector general said the absence of the requested U.N. information prevented its investigators from completing the work necessary to reach an enforcement determination.
The case took a more unusual turn when USAID OIG learned that OIOS had already referred findings of criminality arising from the matter to Venezuelan authorities.
According to the inspector general, that referral occurred sometime before June 2025 and was made to the government then led by Nicolás Maduro.
“Of note, USAID OIG learned that OIOS did refer findings of criminality in this case to the Maduro-led Venezuelan government sometime before June 2025, despite longstanding international concerns regarding the independence of Venezuela’s judiciary,” the watchdog said.
OIOS made that referral while declining to provide the identifying information requested by the U.S. watchdog, citing procedural concerns, USAID OIG said.
That disparity drew criticism from the Trump administration.
“It is inexcusable for the U.N. and it’s so-called ‘investigators’ to be more transparent with Maduro’s thugs than with U.S. law enforcement probing fraud involving U.S.-funded aid,” a senior administration official responsible for American programming in Venezuela told Just the News.
The administration official’s characterization reflects the U.S. government’s criticism of the U.N.’s handling of the matter. The inspector general’s report itself states more narrowly that OIOS referred findings of criminality to the Maduro-led government while refusing to provide USAID OIG with identifying information sought for its separate investigation.
Neither the organization accused of committing the fraud nor the individuals potentially implicated were identified in the public summary.
USAID OIG also did not disclose precisely how the approximately $393,000 was allegedly diverted or lost, what evidence first prompted the investigation or what OIOS had concluded about the conduct of particular individuals.
The watchdog’s findings nevertheless raise questions about accountability mechanisms surrounding international organizations administering assistance financed by the United States.
OCHA coordinates international humanitarian responses and works with local and international partners to deliver assistance in countries facing crises. OIOS serves as the United Nations’ internal oversight body, conducting audits, evaluations, inspections and investigations involving U.N. operations.
OIOS had previously conducted a broader audit of OCHA’s operations in Venezuela. A publicly available 2022 audit contained six recommendations classified as important, though that audit is distinct from the criminality findings described in Tuesday’s USAID OIG investigative summary and should not be assumed to involve the same organization or alleged fraud.
The dispute described Tuesday instead centers on what happened after American investigators sought access to information gathered through the U.N.’s own oversight processes.
USAID OIG is an independent federal law-enforcement and oversight organization responsible for investigating fraud, corruption, diversion and other misconduct affecting U.S.-funded foreign assistance.
The office said that in this case it repeatedly attempted to obtain enough evidence to independently determine what happened to the money.
It ultimately concluded that it could not do so without cooperation from the U.N. entities holding potentially relevant information.
The $393,000 alleged loss represents a substantial portion of the $900,000 assigned to the two Venezuela projects.
Yet because the inspector general was unable to obtain the requested identifying records, the public U.S. investigation ends without a determination as to who may have been responsible or whether American authorities could have pursued criminal, civil or administrative remedies.
What the federal watchdog did establish is that the U.N.’s own oversight arm reached findings serious enough to refer the matter to Venezuelan authorities before June 2025.
USAID investigators seeking to examine the same alleged misuse of U.S.-funded assistance were not given the information they said they needed to finish their investigation.
The watchdog said it remains responsible for investigating “fraud, corruption, diversion, and other misconduct impacting U.S.-funded foreign assistance programs and operations across multiple agencies,” but in this case concluded that the missing U.N. records left it with no viable path to continue.
Original article
Comments