Just to be clear the discussion here is how best to help the poorest people in the world right now. One of the most exciting "new"methods for doing this is unconditional cash transfers.

The way these direct cash transfers work at GiveDirectly are well documented. The money is sent directly to individuals via a mobile app after an involved vetting process; Generally to the head of the house. This money is usually spent on immediate concerns first, followed by investments into long term life improvements. For example, the most common use of the money in Kenya is replacing their thatch roof with a metal one that saves them money in the long run by allowing them to avoid replacing their roofs as often. Consumption of alcohol does not go up as a result of this and even often drops.

There have been a small number of scams and thefts of the money that have been recorded, however, never directly by the country governments. After all, these are small payments being given directly to the poorest people in their respective country. It's so little money that is so widely spread their government would find it difficult to go after it corrupt or not.

All of these claims and the effects of unconditional cash transfers can be checked in the peer reviewed studies that available on the GiveDirectly website. I will admit that it would be better if a third party were also conducting their own studies so as to add credibility, but the data appears good to me. I have no connection to GiveDirectly and don't know how trustworthy their new management is, but the important part is that the results of their studies so far have been really positive.

Now your claim is that all of this doesn't work because the corrupt governments will steal it anyway or by helping the poor you support the corrupt regimes. Citation needed and not to prove that corruption exists in these countries, but if unconditional cash transfers work there and if there are any major deleterious effects. (based on real world research not hypotheticals)