A Canadian company working to rebuild part of Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami is involved in a legal battle with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), a Canadian government agency, over hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for reconstructing areas hit by the tsunami in Ampara, CBC news reported.

Canadian Agro Sustainability Partnership (CASP) secured a contract to plan out the reconstruction of the Ampara district of Sri Lanka, one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004. It's a contract that was worth millions of dollars.

On its website, CASP describes itself as a non-profit umbrella group representing about 55 organizations, including private companies, industry groups, and institutions like the Atlantic Veterinary College.

CASP was formed to promote sustainable agriculture, but after the tsunami it went after the Ampara district development contract.

CASP received funding from the federal government for the reconstruction through CIDA worth $2.5 million. The funding was contingent on a number of things, including that the group conduct other fundraising, and also that it contribute $300,000 of its own money to the project.

Court documents show that the relationship between CIDA and CASP broke down after the agency conducted an audit of the project. CIDA stopped issuing payments, and CASP filed a lawsuit for $462,032.29, plus further unspecified damages.

CIDA says it told CASP to reduce its costs in August 2007.

Payments stopped in January 2008, after the audit. CBC News does not have a copy of the audit, but in court documents CIDA claims the group was paying too much for its staff. They allege the group was including profit and overhead costs in what they were charging for their per diems.

CASP head Doug MacArthur said staff were being paid $400 to $500 a day, and they were expected to pay their own expenses from that.

CIDA also claimed in court documents the group had expensed things it wasn't supposed to, and countersued for $245,526.41, saying it had been overbilled.

CIDA, the federal government's lead agency for development assistance, won't talk about the case.

MacArthur is in eastern Europe this week and had little to say on the subject when reached by CBC News.

Most of the promised CIDA money was paid out to CASP, but CIDA claims CASP didn't live up to its end, in terms of fundraising and coming up with its own money.

CASP says its reputation has been damaged as a result of the dispute, and it has lost out on further projects worth millions. It says that has also hurt the P.E.I. economy, because much of that work would have been given to Islanders.

Courtesy: DailyMirror

Posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 @ 08:55:33 LKT by SaNDun

   815 Article Reads.