The Philippine government said in a press conference on Saturday evening that they will investigate reports that money from Australian Aid (AusAid) went to Islamic State-linked terrorists in Mindanao.
According to a Nov. 11 report by The Weekend Australian, the Australian government may have allowed funds to be channeled to a business connected to the Maute group, the Islamic State-linked terror group that led the five-month siege of Marawi City.
According to Inquirer.net, terror leader Mohammadkhayam Maute was contracted by the aid agency to build classrooms, science labs and school libraries across Muslim areas of Mindanao.
The total project, funded by AusAid between 2012 and 2017, was worth PHP485 million (US$9.7 million).
According to the report, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop herself confirmed that the Australian government discovered the Maute link after a 2015 project audit.
The local partner for the project, Habitat for Humanity, had contracted a local firm associated with the Maute family.
The Maute family’s wealth comes from the construction business and property development in Mindanao.
Of course, prior to the Butig siege of 2016, the family’s links to radical terror groups had not yet been fully uncovered by Philippine intelligence.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) will also look into how the money ended up in the Maute family’s hands.
“I find it hard to believe, because Australians are very tough on terrorism, too. So I do not know how this can happen to AusAID,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
“We’ll look into this allegation that AusAID fund was sent to Maute. This shows that we really need to implement anti-money laundering act because ang nangyayari dito this is really a form of laundering na aid money used for terrorism,” he added.
More than 1,000 people were killed, and the city razed to the ground, in the five-month siege that ended last October.
