The massive US civilian aid flowing into Pakistan would be squandered or stolen, a powerful American Senator has said, arguing that rampant corruption in that country would make effective aid distribution a challenge.
The red flag has been raised by Senator John Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a seven-page letter to Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"Among the Pakistani population there is already a fear that the funds will merely enrich the corrupt elite. Channelling so much of the money through untested institutions so quickly could serve to confirm these suspicions," he wrote.
Dated May 25, the letter was first reported by Boston Globe and is now widely available on the internet.
Such a strongly worded letter from a top US Senator comes in the wake of Holbrooke's decision to route at least 50 percent of the aid money either through the Pakistani Government or through the Pakistani civil society or local non-governmental organisations.
So far the US aid money in Pakistan is mostly routed through the American non-governmental organisations working in the country. One of the major complaints against these US NGO is that they have a very high overhead cost and they finally end up doing the work by sub-contracting them through the local NGOs/workers; thus a high fraction of the aid money is wasted in transit.
However, Kerry, who has oversight responsibilities over the funds, believes that the Pakistani organisations are not ready yet to effectively spend the US aid money.
"The danger is much greater than merely the possibility of a portion of funds being poorly spent," he said.
"If significant portion of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman funds are, for example, siphoned off to private bank accounts, political support for continued appropriation of the money could evaporate in Washington and Pakistan," Kerry said.
Fearing massive corruption into the US aid money to Pakistan, Kerry in his letter has highlighted the need for long-term development progress, more transparency and policy reforms in key sectors like energy.
"This Administration should be as transparent and specific as possible as how US funds will be spent in Pakistan. To date, this process is largely opaque to the broader public, including our Pakistani friend and partners.
This lack of transparency can generate suspicion and distrust, defeating the core intent of the Act to help build stronger ties with the Pakistani people," Kerry said.
The Administration will need to have to have a sound transition plan in place so that local Pakistani institutions are capable of handling FY 2010 funds in an accountable, effective manner, Kerry noted.
"If significant portions of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman funds are, for example, siphoned off to private bank accounts, political support for continued appropriation of the money could evaporate in Washington and Pakistan," the letter said, adding that among the Pakistani population, there is already a fear that the funds will merely enrich the corrupt elite.
Channelling so much money through untested institutions so quickly could serve to confirm these suspicions, he argued.