Relief aid diverted

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 13

Relief aid diverted

(NZPA.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, October 11. Congressional investigators today reported that part of SUSI4n» worth of American relief supplies for Laotian refugees last year was diverted into private hands.

Senator Edward Kennedy, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on Refugees, said that the losses of food and other relief supplies were adding to

the hardships of victims of the fighting in Laos. He made public a report by the General Accounting Office, the investigating arm of Congress in financial matters, which said that there had been serious losses or diversions of relief sent to Laos. Senator Kennedy said in a statement: “Sloppy management, weak accounting procedures, and a serious loss or diversion of commodities, characterised some United States Agency for International Development programmes in Laos.” He added: “This has not only contributed to an alann-

ing waste of American tax dollars, but -to an unfortunate slowing-down of American voluntary agency and Government relief programmes for civilians, and to the increasing hardships experienced by a growing number of refugees and war victims in Laos.” The G.A.O. report said that the A.I.D. mission in Laos had not established the controls necessary to safeguard American interests and to account for the large amounts of commodities sent to Laos to help refugees and other war victims. The report cited, among other examples, the A.l.D.’s inability to account for about 25 per cent, or about 18,255,0971 b of the milk products that were supposed to have been shipped into Laos by the Express Transportation Organisation. The transport firm is owned by a group of Thai generals and, according to testimony made public by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last June, it receives 35 to 40 per cent profit under its contracts with the United States Government The G.A.O. report said that there were weaknesses in the procedure of signing receipts and other documents. "A.I.D. has few records it can rely on for assurance that the commodities are delivered to intended recipients,” it said, adding that it could not account for shipments of steel bars, axes and other supplies sent by a Thai commercial contractor. The A.I.D. told the G.A.O. in August that it had tightened up its procedures, but the report said it felt that weaknesses probably still existed.