Man charged over fake mosquito nets in US

17:50 - 01 November 2015

Mother and child inside a mosquito net

Ouedraogo was given funds by the U.S. Agency for International Development to purchase 2 million treated mosquito nets with a long-term insecticide, and made by a Thailand company recommended by the World Health Organization.

A 33yrs old Burkina Faso man named Malamine Ouedraogo has been criminally charged by U.S. prosecutors Attorney Preet Bharara in New York for defrauding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland, and the U.S. Agency for International Development of $12.2 million.

Read:Nigerian arrested for defrauding businessman in India

According to reports by thenewsnigeria, Ouedraogo assured in 2010 to use funds from those entities to buy more than 2 million treated mosquito nets with a long-term insecticide, and made by a Thailand company recommended by the World Health Organization.

However, Ouedraogo sent to Burkina Faso mosquito nets containing little or no insecticide made by an anonymous Chinese company.

Read:

Ouedraogo, whose whereabouts cannot be immediately determined has been charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum 20yrs prison term.

Furthermore, In 2013 roughly 3.77 million malaria cases and 6,294 deaths were reported In Burkina Faso, out of a population of 16.9 million, WHO data show.

The case is U.S. v. Ouedraogo, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-cr-00770.