S. Africa Clears Ex-Cleric of Misappropriating Aid Funds : Scandal: Former anti-apartheid leader was focus of inquiry. With $500,000 still missing, police probe continues.

A government inquiry released Saturday has exonerated former anti-apartheid leader and cleric Allan Boesak of allegations that he misappropriated or misspent foreign aid funds donated to help poor children.

A separate police investigation continues, however, and the report did not resolve what happened to more than $500,000 donated to the Foundation for Peace and Justice, a charitable organization he headed.

The report found Boesak’s financial management highly negligent and prone to abuse.

“Allan must take responsibility for the mess that has occurred,” Deputy President Thabo Mbeki told a news conference in Pretoria. “And it was really messy. The report makes strange reading. There was not sufficient supervision and sufficient control over the foundation’s financial affairs.”

Boesak, a former president of the Geneva-based World Alliance of Reformed Churches, gave up his pending appointment as South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva after the scandal erupted in January.

Boesak told reporters Saturday that it was “wonderful to be vindicated” and said he hopes for a new high-level posting overseas.

A consortium of Scandinavian donor groups alleged last year that Boesak and his staff misappropriated about $570,000, using the money for interest-free loans, homes, cars and travel.

On Saturday, the lead donor group, Denmark’s DanChurch Aid, called the government report incomplete, saying it did not account for how the money was spent.

The group cited “serious economic irregularities and mismanagement” in Boesak’s foundation and said it will await results from the police investigation.

“We still want to find out where our money went,” a spokesman said.

The government report appeared to blame the financial problems on bookkeeper Freddie Steenkamp, who handled the foundation’s finances and Boesak’s personal accounts.

According to government lawyer Mojunko Gumbi, Steenkamp said he lost or destroyed the record books, checks, bank statements, deposit slips and other documentation for the relevant accounts.

Gumbi said Steenkamp instead reconstructed about 360 financial transactions “from memory.”

Accepting those figures, Mbeki announced that the foundation actually owed Boesak about $65,000 for insurance policies he cashed in and whose proceeds he deposited in foundation accounts.

In recent months, Boesak has sold his home in Cape Town’s posh Constantia suburb and had his cars repossessed. He and his wife reportedly now live in a borrowed home and drive a borrowed car.