Rights advocacy group Amnesty International has reportedly ceased operations in its local branch in Zimbabwe after uncovering evidence of fraud.
An “extensive forensic audit was conducted in late 2018 which uncovered evidence of fraud and serious financial mismanagement,” Amnesty noted in a statement issued on Thursday, reported Aljazeera.
According to the statement, the rights advocacy group’s Zimbabwe branch had been suspended and placed under administration and that the Zimbabwean police had been informed of the audit findings.
“The decision has been made to take extraordinary measures … to protect the reputation, integrity, and operation of the movement,” the statement read.
While no further details were made available, the London-based Amnesty group said it would not provide spokespeople for interviews and that it would try to recover lost funds. The group said it has already introduced urgent measures to ensure donor money was safe.
In Zimbabwe, Amnesty has focused recent work on promoting media freedom, campaigning against the arrest of rights activists, and calling for accountability for security forces after alleged abuses. The United States had cut funding to three Zimbabwean civil action groups last year over misuse of funding money.
The Zimbabwean state media often accuses International rights groups of working on behalf of foreign countries to help the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party to overthrow the government.
The suspension comes just two days after Amnesty’s senior leadership team offered to resign from the organization following an independent review into what employees called a toxic workplace. Around seven members of the rights group’s senior leadership made an offer to resign on Tuesday. Five are believed to have left or been in the process of leaving the organization.
Amnesty’s Secretary-General Kumi Naidoo had called for the review after two employees killed themselves last year.
