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Tsunami funds: Only fraction used, says AG
As President Chandrika Kumaratunga made an international appeal to remain focused on the reconstruction and recovery effort in the tsunami - affected countries, the Auditor General has pointed out serious deficiencies in handling the foreign and local funds sent for tsunami victims.

In a report submitted to Parliament the Auditor General said that of foreign aid amounting to US $ 1,168 million (Rs. 116.8 m.) for six major areas only US $ 158 million (Rs. 15,800 m.) had been spent amounting to 13.5 per cent of the money available.Of Rs. 4,277 million local aid collected by 20 institutions only a sum of Rs. 1,576 million or 37 per cent had been spent. The sum of money remaining with 18 of these institutions amounted to Rs. 2,692 million.

Even though 384 NGOs registered with the Social Services Department had agreed to provide funds amounting to US $ 1,321 million (Rs. 132.1 m.) for rebuilding assets destroyed by the tsunami, instances of failure to sign MoUs up to date had been observed, the report said.

Among other deficiencies the report noted the lack of a proper delegation of authority for taking on-the-spot decisions, waste and corruption resulting from the multiplicity of decisions taken by various parties and failure to communicate the decisions of the Government to the public on time.

The report noted that 506 motor vehicles had been imported for tsunami relief work under duty concessions for a period of three months, but that period had been extended up to the year 2008 contrary to provisions in the Customs Ordinance and without passing a resolution in Parliament.

The TAFREN was yesterday maintaining silence over serious allegations made by the Auditor General about the spending of foreign and local aid received for tsunami victims.

TAFREN spokesperson, Piyumi Samaraweera told The Sunday Times that both its Chairman Mano Tittawella and CEO Rohini Nanayakkara were out of the country and so he could not comment on the report.

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