Did Germany’s corrupt aid agency fund the Houthis?

Tens of millions of euros disappeared in German aid programs in Yemen Tens of millions of euros in taxpayer money may have been embezzled in Yemen by Germany’s international aid agency, with some cash likely flowing to the same Houthi rebels condemned by Berlin on the international stage. According to a new report by Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper, “tens of millions of euros” pumped into Yemen by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) disappeared between 2015 and 2025. At least 24 GIZ employees took part in the embezzlement schemes, the newspaper reported. These employees, and possibly others, enriched themselves by billing GIZ for non-existent training seminars and inflated contracts with partners on the ground in Yemen, as well as trips which never took place and fake grant applications that supposedly came from Yemeni contractors. GIZ’s leadership had been aware of “systematic, organized fraud” within its own ranks since 2023, and the 24 employees were all sacked. However, Welt reports that GIZ’s board of directors, headed by spokesman Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, withheld this information from the supervisory board tasked with overseeing the agency’s actions. Publicly, GIZ has downplayed the fraud, describing it as “commercial irregularities.” No GIZ employees have been prosecuted for their role in any graft schemes to date. An exterior view of GIZ offices in Eschborn, Germany © Getty Images; Hannes P Albert Did Germany fund the Houthis? GIZ operated in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen from 2015 until 2025. Welt noted that any “foreign organization wishing to operate here must come to terms with the extremists,” and given that much of the fraud involved local collaborators, the possibility that some of this cash ended up in the hands of the Houthis cannot be ruled out. The report also noted that GIZ continued dealing with Yemen Kuwait Bank despite internal warnings in 2023.

The bank has since been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for allegedly helping “the Houthis establish and finance front companies.” It is impossible to know how much money was transferred to the militants, however, as GIZ destroyed many of its files as it withdrew from Houthi territory last year. The destruction was allegedly ordered by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. As such, if any money found its way to the Houthis, Berlin is directly implicated in covering up the transfers. Read more The domino effect: How Iran-Israel tensions arm pirates Officially known as the Ansar Allah movement, the Houthis have been sanctioned by the US and repeatedly condemned by the German government. Germany views the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) – a Saudi-backed agglomeration of various anti-Houthi factions – as Yemen’s legitimate government. In addition, it contributes to the EU’s anti-Houthi ‘Operation Aspides’ mission in the Red Sea and asserts that GIZ’s work in northern Yemen is aimed at “prevent[ing] the Houthi militia gaining in strength.” German money vs. German money Germany spent more than €100 million ($114 million) on projects in Yemen from 2015 to 2025. While this money was flowing into the country – much of it to the IRG, with an indeterminate amount flowing to fraudsters and militants, according to Welt – Germany was simultaneously arming the militaries of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have been waging war on the Houthis since 2015. According to a 2019 investigation by a group of German media outlets, the Saudi and Emirati militaries used “warships, weapon stations and tank technology from Germany” in their war on the region’s poorest country. This revelation caused outrage in Berlin and arms exports to