Missing Tsunami Funds: Who misappropriated $ 471 Million?

http://www.island.lk/2010/01/05/news8.html



Missing tsunami funds: Who misappropriated $ 471 mn?
NGOs received 73 per cent of money
TISL calls for audit on tsunami funds

by Shamindra Ferdinando

The Transparency International Sri Lanka yesterday acknowledged that a sum of $ 471,931,440 missing from the tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation funds had been received by various INGO/NGOs as well as the government.

Rukshana Nanayakkara of TISL told The Island that the money had been received through government approved channels though the Auditor General had not conducted an audit since 2005. He said that there was no precise evidence to explain the missing funds.

He emphasised that it was the primary duty of the AG to conduct a thorough audit of funds received by organisations based in Sri Lanka from a range of sources. Asked whether this would mean even INGOs should be subject to the AG’s scrutiny, the TISL official said that the government was responsible for money received through, what he called, government approved channels. He called for an effective mechanism to monitor funds received by INGO/NGOs to ensure transparency.

The TISL said that the government should carry out an audit to explain how the money had been utilised.

According to him, the total sum pledged by overseas donors was $ 2,126,771,858 though the actual amount received was $ 1,075,375,348 and the amount spent was $ 603,443,908.

On the basis of a recent statement issued by TISL, UNP spokesman Lakshman Kiriella, MP, demanded the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who holds the finance portfolio, make a public statement on the missing funds.

Government sources said that TISL statement had been used to accuse the government of misappropriating Rs. 47 billion. They asked how anyone could demand an explanation from the government regarding funds received by INGOs and NGOs. They dismissed TISLdemand as an attempt to embarrass the government ahead of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary polls.

According to a survey conducted by the Central Bank, 256 INGOs/NGOs had received Rs. 40.1 billion by way of credit to their bank accounts from various foreign and local sources during 2005. The Bank Supervision Department said that the survey had revealed that 73 per cent of total foreign remittances had been received by 30 INGOs/NGOs, each receiving foreign remittances in the range of one per cent to 12 per cent of total foreign remittances. It said that almost 79 per cent of funds received in the bank accounts of all INGOs/NGOs during 2005 had been withdrawn. The Central Bank said that the 30 INGOs/NGOs which had received 73 per cent of the total foreign remittances received by Sri Lanka, had withdrawn 85 per cent of funds during 2005.

Government sources said that the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) had received substantial amounts of funds but there was no way of checking what the LTTE front organisation had done with tsunami funds.