NATO has reaffirmed its zero-tolerance stance on fraud and corruption, announcing new measures to strengthen oversight following an investigation into alleged misconduct at its procurement body.
‘NATO has no tolerance for fraud or corruption,’ spokesperson Allison Hart said in a statement to Anadolu. She noted that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) had created its own investigative branch in 2023, a year after the alliance adopted a NATO-wide strategy to prevent, detect, and respond to corruption.
Hart said the NSPA had ‘proactively initiated cooperation with national law enforcement agencies’ and continues to support ongoing probes into suspected criminal activity involving current and former staff.
According to NATO, Secretary General Mark Rutte received a formal request from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor on 12 May to lift the functional immunity of three NSPA staff members. The request was granted the same day.
Rutte and the NSPA’s general manager have since launched a joint investigative task force between NATO headquarters and the agency to expand investigative capacity and address any possible fraud involving agency personnel or contractors.
The move follows the arrest of three Belgian nationals in connection with an alleged corruption scheme at the NSPA, which is based in Capellen, Luxembourg, and manages multi-billion-euro defence contracts for NATO member states.
According to Belgian media reports, the arrests in May are linked to one of three corruption cases uncovered at the agency over the past year. The suspects are accused of leaking confidential information to defence firms bidding for NATO contracts covering aircraft, helicopters, ammunition, and fuel between 2021 and 2025.
Investigative journalist Kristof Clerix, who helped reveal the story, said the inquiry centres on whether consultancy firms advising defence companies obtained insider information, undermining fair competition.
Belgian prosecutors said one suspect remains in custody, another is under electronic surveillance, and a third has been released on conditional bail.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meetin...
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplo...
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with th...
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with the United States nor re-open the Strait as long as its conditions are not met, despite recent indirect talks in New York mediated by Qatar.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York on Wednesday, as Washington pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine and Kyiv and Moscow continue to strike energy infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump said his team held a three-hour meeting with an Iranian delegation in New York that he described as “very good” and “productive”, with another round of talks scheduled soon.
The 81st UN General Assembly continues in New York on Wednesday, with another day of high-level speeches and diplomatic meetings. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, global security and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplomatic meetings. Restoring trust, managing global transformation, peace and security, and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
Australia says an OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorised access to a government Medicare statistics portal in June, in what officials say could be an unprecedented case of an AI system breaching a government network.
Pakistan says it carried out air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, targeting sites it said were used to store and launch drones, as tensions between the two neighbouring countries continued to escalate.
Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 24 September 2026, with five key developments from the second day of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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