Parshka Kanish Singh
WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) – More than $200 billion (182.5 billion euros) from the U.S. federal administration’s support funds for small businesses or self-employed workers in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic were likely collected fraudulently, said a report released on Tuesday.
This fraud was made possible in particular because the administration responsible for small businesses, the SBA, reduced its controls in order to allow rapid payment of aid, adds this report by the Inspector General of the SBA.
According to the latter, at least 17% of all the funds released under two programmes, one, the EIDL, consisting of granting exceptional loans enabling small businesses to honor their financial commitments and cover operating costs, the other, the PPP, allowing them to continue to pay their employees, was paid to potential fraudsters.
The SBA disbursed about $1.2 trillion under these two programs during the pandemic.
The latter disputes this amount of more than 200 billion dollars and judges that the approach of the Inspector General led him to overestimate the fraud.
Its experts estimate the potential fraud at $36 billion, she said, adding that 86% of these possible embezzlements occurred in 2020, under the presidency of Donald Trump.
(Written by Kanishka Singh in Washington, French version Bertrand Boucey)
2023-06-27 21:00:48
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