AG releases report on tsunami aid distribution

COLOMBO, Monday (Reuters) - Officials misspent or misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tsunami aid after failing to follow instructions, the Auditor General said on Monday.

Officials gave millions of rupees in tsunami assistance to thousands of families who were not directly affected by the Indian Ocean island's worst natural disaster in memory. There were others displaced by the tsunami who did not get the rations they were entitled to.

Auditor General S.C. Mayadunne put the misappropriation down to confusion stemming from multiple instructions issued by different government departments.

"As far as we see it, it is a misinterpretation of the ... instructions," Mayadunne told Reuters. "Therefore, when you misinterpret ... it is a misappropriation. I should not say it is corruption."

In one case, 73.395 million rupees worth of aid was paid out to nearly 16,000 families in the divisional secretariat of Negombo on the west coast, which was relatively unscathed by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Only 599 families in Negombo were directly affected by the tsunami, Mayadunne said in a report on flaws in post-tsunami aid distribution and accounting he has presented to Parliament. A government spokesman said he had no immediate comment to offer on the report which comes ahead of Presidential Elections set for Nov. 17.

"Test checks revealed instances such as spending only a small portion of the funds collected locally for the purposes, retaining collections in general deposit accounts without being used for the intended purposes," the report said.

International donors have pledged over $3 billion in aid to Sri Lanka, around a third of which has been firmly committed so far according to the island's tsunami reconstruction body. Mayadunne's report, posted on the Web site www.auditorgeneral.lk, also details instances of apparent corruption, including the disappearance of aid materials.

Mayadunne, who is tasked with auditing the accountability of Sri Lanka's government and reports directly to Parliament, is working on a comprehensive audit of Sri Lanka's handling of tsunami aid.