Corruption at HLH

CMI- report 1 (2007) on page 11: "We found that it was sometimes difficult to identify the reasons for changes in various cost components over time, due to misleading or inconsistent accounting practices." 

On the same page the following advice is given: "Improve the quality of the accounting practices"

CMI - report 2 (2009) on page 13: "HLH possess various assets that potentially can generate income for the hospital. The most recent of these and potentially the most important are Mulbadaw farm and the Central Maintenance Service Centre."

On page 25 about the Mulbadaw farm: "The farm is now operating as a separate entity. It has its own accounts, administered by the accounting office of HLH." 

CMI- report 3 (2013) on page 9: "In February 2011 the Financial Advisor of HLH discovered that PEPFAR funds had been misused for at least two years, perhaps more. Cash was withdrawn from the PEPFAR account and transferred manually to the hospital account. Receipts were prepared from different series of receipt book, which was not accounted for in the hospital records. The total amount lost is around Tshs. 63 million (approximately USD 42,000). HLH immediately informed PEPFAR and RNE about the unfortunate events. Most of the Finance Department was involved, between four and nine people. Four staff members, including the Head of Finance, admitted in writing to have taken part in the fraud (Tshs. 39 million) and were fired. The staff in question agreed to pay back the embezzled funds, but very little has been collected so far. None of them have been reported to the police since a court process most probably will take many years to complete, and the law says that the hospital will be obliged to pay salaries during this period under the principle that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty."

It is important to register that the corruption reported in CMI- report 3,  took place during the Olsen administration at HLH, while the Espegren administration cleaned up. 

In the crucial years from 2006 until 2010 (before Haydom Farm and Development Ltd. was established in 2010 by the Norwegians in The Friends of Haydom) the Mulbadaw farm was owned and controlled by HLH in cooperation with the Norwegians in The Friends of Haydom. (Read more about the ownership here.)  There also can be no discussion about the fact that it was the corrupt Financial Department at HLH that did the accounts for The Mulbadaw farm until 2010 (see quotations from CMI- report 2 above).

In spite of the clear recommendation in CMI- report 1 (see above) the Olsen administration wasn’t able to clean up the corrupt Finance Department. Or maybe Mr. Øystein Olsen had his own reasons for not implementing the cleanup.

From the beginning when this web- page was published on the internet in February 2009, we have raised the suspicion of corruption aimed at avoiding the court case HDC raised, to be considered by Tanzanian court. The court case  is aimed at establishing that the hostile takeover in August 2006 of The Mulbaw farm by the Norwegian foundation called The Fiends of Haydom in cooperation with HLH, was illegal according to Tanzanian law. So far this case hasn’t been tried in court.

Sorry to say we haven’t been able to present hard evidence that the court has been bribed, but we have spoken out our suspicion. Now at least there is hard written evidence that major corruption took place at HLH during the Olsen administration at HLH. Our suspicion has been strengthened.