Sri Lanka’s failure to account for tsunami-related expenditures has compelled the World Bank to withhold funding earmarked for the government’s Task Force for Rehabilitation of the Nation (TAFREN), weekend press reports said.
Although over 70%of monies disbursed by the World Bank under one TAFREN project have been spent, there is no paperwork to account for where it went The Sunday Leader newspaper said.
“A damning letter sent to the Treasury by the World Bank last week, accuses TAFREN of not properly accounting for Rs.125 million of the tsunami aid,” the paper said.
Despite spending a colossal sum of the tsunami money on an alleged media awareness campaign, the flagship government body for rebuilding, TAFREN was unable to furnish the World Bank with any documents in support of the expenditure, it said.
The World Bank’s Country Director, Peter Harrold, has written to Sri Lanka’s Treasury Secretary, P. B. Jayasundera, saying the Bank is compelled to withdraw its aid commitment and declare Rs. 100 million ineligible for financing due to non-compliance with agreed expenditure guidelines, the paper said.
The letter to the Treasury comes in the wake of a supervision exercise undertaken by a World Bank Mission during September and October 2005 and follows an earlier letter, the paper said.
The mission, operating under the Sri Lanka Economic Reform Technical Assistance Project, had as two of its objectives the review of recent transactions related to the tsunami relief and the review of progress in achieving the project objectives.
Although it had not insisted on stringent accounting procedures for the first Rs. 25 million disbursed after last year’s tsunami, the World Bank was adamant that the next Rs.100 million be accounted for as per proper ERTA procedure.
“It is reliably learnt that when the World Bank team had asked for clarification TAFREN staff had stated the money was used for newspaper advertisements. The World Bank then requested that copies of these advertisements be made available to them. TAFREN was unable to do so,” the Sunday Leader said.
The World Bank had noted in its challenge to the Treasury that TAFREN has “spent almost three-quarter of a million dollars in communications and are not able to furnish the mission with any contracts, TORs (terms of reference), or indicative budgets. It is clear that TAFREN has not followed the agreed procedures in awarding these contracts on single source basis.”
“The letters are a serious indictment on the credibility of the Sri Lankan government with regard to the proper disbursement of the tsunami aid which poured in to the country following the disaster,” the pro-opposition Sunday Leader said.
The World Bank letter to the Treasury comes in the wake of a shocking Auditor General’s (AG) report on Sri Lanka’s post-tsunami recovery process released in late September and tabled in parliament. The AG’s report highlighted corruption and waste on a massive scale.
Although over 70%of monies disbursed by the World Bank under one TAFREN project have been spent, there is no paperwork to account for where it went The Sunday Leader newspaper said.
“A damning letter sent to the Treasury by the World Bank last week, accuses TAFREN of not properly accounting for Rs.125 million of the tsunami aid,” the paper said.
Despite spending a colossal sum of the tsunami money on an alleged media awareness campaign, the flagship government body for rebuilding, TAFREN was unable to furnish the World Bank with any documents in support of the expenditure, it said.
The World Bank’s Country Director, Peter Harrold, has written to Sri Lanka’s Treasury Secretary, P. B. Jayasundera, saying the Bank is compelled to withdraw its aid commitment and declare Rs. 100 million ineligible for financing due to non-compliance with agreed expenditure guidelines, the paper said.
The letter to the Treasury comes in the wake of a supervision exercise undertaken by a World Bank Mission during September and October 2005 and follows an earlier letter, the paper said.
The mission, operating under the Sri Lanka Economic Reform Technical Assistance Project, had as two of its objectives the review of recent transactions related to the tsunami relief and the review of progress in achieving the project objectives.
Although it had not insisted on stringent accounting procedures for the first Rs. 25 million disbursed after last year’s tsunami, the World Bank was adamant that the next Rs.100 million be accounted for as per proper ERTA procedure.
“It is reliably learnt that when the World Bank team had asked for clarification TAFREN staff had stated the money was used for newspaper advertisements. The World Bank then requested that copies of these advertisements be made available to them. TAFREN was unable to do so,” the Sunday Leader said.
The World Bank had noted in its challenge to the Treasury that TAFREN has “spent almost three-quarter of a million dollars in communications and are not able to furnish the mission with any contracts, TORs (terms of reference), or indicative budgets. It is clear that TAFREN has not followed the agreed procedures in awarding these contracts on single source basis.”
“The letters are a serious indictment on the credibility of the Sri Lankan government with regard to the proper disbursement of the tsunami aid which poured in to the country following the disaster,” the pro-opposition Sunday Leader said.
The World Bank letter to the Treasury comes in the wake of a shocking Auditor General’s (AG) report on Sri Lanka’s post-tsunami recovery process released in late September and tabled in parliament. The AG’s report highlighted corruption and waste on a massive scale.
