More than 500,000 people were displaced in Sri Lanka in 2004

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has accused the authorities of failing to explain to what happened to over 471 million USD out of 1075 million USD provided by the donors.

In a statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the devastating Asian tsunami, the TISL said the donors have also failed to keep their word.

More than 2126 million USD has been pledged by the donors but only 1075 million USD has been disbursed, according to the watchdog.

Proper audit urged

"The difference between the disbursed and the expended has been a controversial issue that does not have a credible explanation. While some officials were reluctant to divulge the information, there were some responsible bodies, who implied that the funds have been utilized by the government for other purposes," the statement said.

Tsunami aid (in USD) Committed funds: 2,126,771,858 Disbursed funds: 1,075,375,348 Expended funds: 603,443,908 TISL (Based on 2007 data)

More than 40,000 people died there and some 500,000 were displaced in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

The watchdog called on the authorities to conduct an audit into the funds granted for tsunami recovery and its disbursement.

"When the higher officials at Auditor General's Department of Sri Lanka were contacted in December 2009, TISL was informed that there is no audit conducted on funds received for Tsunami Reconstruction process since the last audit by the former Auditor General in 2005," it said.

The TISL says the figures are based from the Development Assistance Date Base (DAD) published in March 2007.