Somali Lawmaker Exposes How Minnesota Fraud Is Rooted in State Corruption and Is Directed From Mogadishu

WASHINGTON — A Somali member of parliament has intensified the debate over a sprawling fraud scandal in Minnesota, asserting in a letter to Senator Ted Cruz that the abuse of U.S. taxpayer funds under investigation in the state is part of a far larger, state-enabled system of corruption directed from Mogadishu.

The lawmaker, Dr. Abdillahi Hashi Abib, sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Somalia’s House of the People and has emerged as one of the most vocal internal critics of his own government. In his letter to Mr. Cruz, Dr. Abib said he possesses extensive documentary evidence showing that fraud uncovered in Minnesota represents only the downstream effects of what he described as a “state-sanctioned fraud architecture” embedded within Somali institutions and protected by senior political leaders.

Dr. Abib urged Congress not to focus solely on Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, arguing that state and municipal authorities are not the originators of the schemes now under federal scrutiny. Minnesota, he wrote, functions primarily as a distribution point for funds that are later transferred, laundered and recycled through transnational networks tied to Somalia’s political and financial elite.

The letter arrives as federal prosecutors and congressional committees continue to examine fraud involving pandemic-era food aid, health care and social services programs in Minnesota, cases that have already resulted in dozens of indictments and allegations involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Republican lawmakers, including Mr. Cruz, have raised concerns that proceeds from these schemes were routed abroad, including to Somalia, through informal money-transfer systems.

Dr. Abib’s claims echo arguments he has made previously in interviews and written submissions to U.S. officials. In January, he told The Daily Caller that Somalia effectively functions as a “fraud pipeline,” siphoning U.S. taxpayer money from aid, health care and child care programs into one of the world’s poorest and most corrupt countries  . He said corruption exposed in Minnesota and other American states did not arise spontaneously but reflected predictable outcomes of Somalia’s governing structure, which relies heavily on foreign aid and lacks effective oversight.

According to material Dr. Abib shared with U.S. lawmakers and journalists, international partners have allocated more than $3.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Somalia in recent years, with roughly 90 percent coming from the United States.

He alleges that large portions of this money are systematically diverted through inflated contracts, cash withdrawals without receipts and payments to shell advisers and family-linked businesses embedded within government agencies.

Dr. Abdillahi Hashi Abib

In one 2023 report cited by Dr. Abib, Somali parliamentary investigators compiled hundreds of gigabytes of expenditure data that they say show illegal spending by the executive branch, including inflated travel costs and purchases from politically connected firms without competitive bidding.

He has also accused senior officials at Somalia’s central bank and disaster management agency of facilitating or benefiting from the diversion of aid, claims that Somali authorities have not publicly addressed in detail.

Dr. Abib’s second letter, sent earlier this year and also reviewed by U.S. officials, argued that U.S. oversight failures under the Biden administration allowed billions of dollars in aid fraud to go unaddressed for years.

He documented what he described as a multibillion-dollar gap between donor-reported project revenues and actual deposits into Somalia’s Treasury Single Account, which receives international assistance.

The World Bank and the United Nations World Food Program, both key channels for aid to Somalia, have rejected accusations that they knowingly facilitate fraud. A World Bank spokesman has said its Somalia projects are subject to strict fiduciary controls and monitoring procedures and that the institution has zero tolerance for corruption. The bank has encouraged whistleblowers to submit allegations through formal reporting mechanisms.

U.S. officials have acknowledged concerns about diversion of aid and fraud but have stopped short of endorsing Dr. Abib’s most sweeping claims. Treasury Department representatives have said they are examining whether fraud proceeds from Minnesota cases were transferred abroad and have pledged to strengthen enforcement tools to combat money laundering and terror financing. No U.S. agency has publicly confirmed evidence that Somalia’s government formally authorized or directed fraud committed inside the United States.

Within Somalia, Dr. Abib’s accusations have made him a polarizing figure. He has portrayed himself as a whistleblower acting at personal risk, saying he has received threats and faced political retaliation for exposing corruption. Supporters see him as a rare internal critic in a system long plagued by graft, while detractors accuse him of politicizing aid and damaging Somalia’s international standing.

In his letter to Mr. Cruz, Dr. Abib said he has already submitted a detailed oversight report to congressional leaders and offered to testify publicly under oath. He argued that hearings focused solely on American state officials would generate headlines but fail to address what he called the sovereign-level decision makers who enable fraud and protect its proceeds.

Whether Congress will take up that offer remains unclear. But Dr. Abib’s intervention adds an international and diplomatic dimension to a scandal that has already shaken confidence in U.S. safeguards for taxpayer-funded programs, raising questions about how domestic fraud, foreign aid and fragile states intersect in an increasingly interconnected financial system.