No evidence has been found against the International Road Transport Union (IRU), which was accused of hiding member funds of $550 million earlier this year.
According to the union’s president, Christian Labrot, the allegations related to its TIR insurance scheme which dates back to 1995, and its financial model used to calculate union reserves.
An independent audit dismissed the accusation made against the union, which counts the FTA and RHA as members, finding all funds accounted for. The union’s secretary general, Umberto de Pretto, and chief operating officer, Boris Blanche were accused of hiding member funds.
The audit found that IRU constitutional and governance rules were respected, current management had no involvement in the creation of the insurance scheme; rather, the former employee who made the allegations was responsible for the department supervising the TIR insurance scheme, significant progress in transparency, internal controls and risk management since new management took over in 2013 and governance and ethical practices in line with general standards; no major issues identified.
The audit, which was commissioned by the IRU, was conducted by Ernst & Young and took five months.
