Govt. unable to account for US $470 million funds received for Tsunami relief - Lakshman Kiriella

Addressing a media briefing at the UNP media unit ,UNP M.P. Lakshman Kiriella said , the Govt. is unable to explain where a colossal sum of Rs. 47 billion funds for Tsunami relief received from foreign countries went , or into whose pocket it crept in .No wonder , the Govt. has been unable to provide relief to the Tsunami victims even after nearly five years have elapsed .

In the latest report of the Tsunami International Agency this stark discovery has been pinpointed . Since 2005 , the Auditor General had not done an audit on the Tsunami fund management . The Govt. too had not answered the queries raised by the UNP in and out of Parliament on the Tsunami fraud since 2005 despite the fact that the President and the Govt. are responsible to the Parliament in regard to all official financial dealings. The President and his company of cronies must hold themselves responsible for this misappropriation , for it is they who were controlling the funds received with President as the Finance Minister and the cronies as his financial controllers of national funds.
 

Because of this misappropriation , it was only the poor Tsunami victims who suffered . The foreign aiding countries stopped sending further aid amounting to Rs. 210, 000 million promised earlier ,after they discovered that the Tsunami funds had been abused , and not been properly deployed for honest Tsunami relief work .
 

When the media questioned as to whether a new UNP Govt. will hold an inquiry into this and take action against the culprits , Mr. Kiriella said , the UNP will definitely do that . It has been no use complaining to the President because it is like asking him to apprehend his own culprits whom he is seeking hard to protect, he added.