[4] In 2012, Somali and international stakeholders also agreed to establish a joint financial management board in order to ensure transparent dispensation of government and donor funds.
[8] Additionally, a Public Procurement, Concessions and Disposal Act was passed,[9] and the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was established to audit all government institutions.
[10] The government also began utilizing a free asset recovery system supported by the UNODC and World Bank,[11] and it concurrently launched an anti-graft Public Awareness Campaign.
Largely based on interviews with Mogadishu politicians who had witnessed the payments or received funds, the report alleged that a total of $300 million were unaccounted for once internal revenue was also taken into consideration.
[17] By contrast, funds from Western nations nominally earmarked for security and social service-related initiatives in Somalia mainly went directly to aid agencies, with very little of it ultimately reaching the Somali authorities.
According to then Finance Minister Hussein Halane, although government officials routinely deposited foreign contributions in the Central Bank of Somalia, some of the money was first spent on legitimate and documented expenses.
Ahmed also asserted that the SEMG paper had been "timed to coincide with the end of [the] transition period in order to discredit the TFG," and that the Monitoring Group was the "wrong approach for Somalia's peace and development.
"[19] Additionally, the Prime Minister's Office released a statement describing the report as misleading and false, and suggested that it would consider filing a defamation and libel lawsuit if some of the accusations contained in the paper were not retracted.
[1] An Anti-Corruption Commission with the power to carry out formal investigations and to review government decisions and protocols was also established so as to more closely monitor all activities by public officials.
They also pledged support for Somalia's stable regions, agreeing to form a new fund earmarked for local dispute resolution, job creation, basic service delivery and development of government sectors.
Shortly afterwards, the Somali authorities hired forensic accountants from FTI Consulting, Inc. and a legal team from the US firm Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, PA to investigate the charges.
[29] She stepped down from the position in November, citing interference with the bank's functions as among the main reasons for her departure, as well as pressure to sanction deals that she suggested were in violation of her fiduciary responsibility as head of the national monetary authority.
Additionally, Ganjab denied the accusations and suggested that they were part of a campaign by the SEMG's Coordinator Jarat Chopra to undermine the Somali authorities as well as individuals like himself who had helped repudiate the panel's 2013 report.
[35] In an August press conference, attorney Jeremy Schulman from the law firm Shulman Rogers similarly suggested that Chopra's criticism of the asset recovery process was politically motivated and deliberately misleading.
[37] The contract with Shulman Rogers was concurrently terminated due to its prohibitive cost,[11] and the Central Bank requested that the company transfer a full list of overseas state assets that its investigation had yielded.
As such, it aims to spur economic development and establish a foundation for transparent financial governance by eliminating mismanagement of public funds, reducing monopolies and promoting competitiveness in the concession procurement process.
[39][12] Among its first initiatives, the OAG outlined statuary regulations vis-a-vis government institutional accountability, which were approved by the Somali Council of Ministers and await parliamentary endorsement.
[40] The International Crisis Group (ICG) notes that while the "chaotic, unregulated laissez faire market system" that came into existence after the collapse of the Siyad Barre regime in 1991 is generally seen as unleashing an entrepreneurial spirit in Somalia, it is also partly responsible for fuelling corruption.