Slow Coach

Corruption and inefficiency continue to plague tsunami aid efforts in Sri Lanka nine months after the disaster, the country's auditor-general said Sunday.





Corruption and inefficiency continue to plague tsunami aid efforts in Sri Lanka nine months after the disaster, the country's auditor-general said Sunday. Auditor-General Sarath Mayadunne said accounting and administrative systems were not established immediately after the December 26 tsunami because it was not practical at the time, but that the lack of controls has continued at the cost of millions of dollars.

"You can to some extent understand the inefficiencies and corruption given the scale of the massive destruction, but even after the emergency was over we saw this trend continue," Mayadunne told AFP.

In an interim reported submitted to parliament last week, Mayadunne pointed out monthly aid was given out to almost 15,000 families in northwestern Sri Lanka who were not officially listed as having been affected by the waves.

He also said delays in aid projects have resulted in the failure to rebuild 98 percent of the nearly 50,000 homes destroyed by the tsunami.

"We have seen