AUDIT REPORT ON CHOLERA RESEARCH LABORATORY

Audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards in CRL"s office in Dacca. Records maintained by USAID/Bangladesh were also reviewed, and CRL"s field station was visited at Matlab Bazar. Discussions were held with various USAID/Bangladesh and CRL officials. Significant findings include the following: 1) reimbursement and payment of $16,310 on certain vouchers was made by USAID/Bangladesh without supporting documentation and not in accordance with contract provisions; 2) AID funds have been used to finance studies and services which were to be financed by other organizations; 3) taxes for local purchases of fuel for almost TK 91,000 had been charged against AID funds instead of against the BDG contribution; and 4) clarification of the directing council"s minutes is needed to reflect clearly that all local employees are to receive a dearness allowance. The following recommendations are made: 1) USAID/Bangladesh should recover from or offset against future reimbursement to CRL the unauthorized payments under contract AID/PHA-C-1105 and the unsupported payments under the FY 74 project agreement; 2) USAID/Bangladesh should have the Cholera Research Lab determine the amount of reimbursement due from the UN and reduce its reimbursement requests to AID by an equivalent amount; 3) USAID/Bangladesh should have the Cholera Research Lab finalize its agreement with Johns Hopkins Univ, collect all appropriate amounts from the univ for past projects, and reduce its reimbursement requests to AID by an equivalent amount; 4) USAID/Bangladesh should instruct the Cholera Research Lab to charge the amount of TK 90,811 paid for gasoline and diesel oil taxes against the BDG contribution or reduce future reimbursements to the Cholera Research Lab by an equal amount; and 5) USAID/Bangladesh should instruct the Cholera Research Laboratory to clarify the wording used in instituting the dearness allowance to clearly reflect the intent that all local employees, as well as senior officials are to be paid the 30% dearness allowance.