DC Judge Ruling Restores Agency Amid Scandal

Clear Facts

• Staff at the African Development Foundation have returned to work after a D.C. judge overturned the Trump administration’s decision to abolish the agency, despite ongoing investigations into its conduct.
• A USAID inspector general’s report criticized the agency for misleading Congress about partner funding and failing to perform due diligence or secure legally binding agreements with partners.
• Evidence surfaced that a top official, Mathieu Zahiu, received questionable payments while presiding over poorly documented contracts, with current probes ongoing.

Staff members of the African Development Foundation have resumed their duties following a D.C. judge’s reversal of the Trump administration’s abolition of the agency.

This reinstatement comes as a USAID inspector general’s report exposes widespread failures within the agency, including misleading Congress and insufficient oversight of federal funds.

The inspector general’s report highlighted Mathieu Zahiu as one of the agency’s senior employees.

It also revealed that Zahiu’s work phone had been seized and contained evidence of secret payments from a company awarded questionable contracts.

Early in the previous administration, Zahiu informed the White House that the agency would not acknowledge the appointment of Peter Marocco, who successfully shut down the agency at that time.

Staff responded by locking doors and barring auditors’ access until U.S. Marshals took control, resulting in layoffs.

An African company filed a lawsuit claiming financial harm, prompting the court to temporarily block the agency’s closure and restore operations for both domestic and African staff.

Despite returning to work, new foreign grant approvals remain largely frozen, reducing the agency’s overall activity.

The inspector general’s findings stated, “the agency only raised a quarter of the money from African partners that it publicly took credit for.”

Nearly half of the grants had incomplete documentation, and no “due diligence” was conducted before entering agreements with foreign partners.

The agency is funded annually with about $50 million in taxpayer dollars and is supposed to supplement that by working with African governments and organizations.

The investigation noted that of the $69 million pledged by partners from 2022 to 2024, only $17 million actually materialized, with African governments providing just $8.2 million out of $41 million promised.

According to the IG probe, the agency reported collecting $45.6 million in 2023 and expecting $15 million in 2024, but received only $9 million and $2.5 million, respectively.

Officials admitted to having “no mechanism to force African governments and other groups to follow through” and used agreements that “were not legally binding.”

“Based on our reviews of USADF’s website, partner funding receipts, and other public reporting, we determined that USADF may have had up to 17 additional active partnerships,” the report stated, but the agency could not supply documents to verify these partnerships.

The inspector general’s review also found that USADF “knew of suspected misuse of Foundation funds and equipment purchased from Foundation grants but failed to report this information to OIG as required.”

Forty percent of grants lacked proper documentation for oversight, and many grantee training records were incomplete.

For most grants, site visit reports by paid African partners were missing from the agency’s database.

Although Thursday’s report focused on specific aspects of the agency’s business before recent changes, further investigations by the inspector general remain active.

This leaves the future of CFO Zahiu uncertain, even after his reinstatement.

Records show that authorities discovered “text messages showing at least eight instances of wire transfers or electronic payments from Gakure to Zahui’s Bank of America account, totaling over $10,000.”

The timing of these payments aligned with the awarding of sole-source contracts to Ganiam Ltd., a company owned by Zahiu’s associate.

This ongoing investigation underscores major weaknesses in oversight and accountability for taxpayer funding at the African Development Foundation.

Stay informed on where your tax dollars go and demand accountability in all agencies that claim to work in America’s interests.

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Full details at Daily Wire