Tsunami charity's 'hidden costs'
2005-06-17 11:51
London - British charity Oxfam had to pay £550 000 in customs duty for importing vehicles to Sri Lanka to help tsunami victims, a report said on Friday.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said the Sri Lankan customs refused to give tax exemptions to non-governmental organisations helping in the aftermath of the December 26 2004 tsunami which killed at least 31 000 people in the country.
The 25 four-wheel drive Indian-made Mahindra vehicles were stuck for a month in Colombo as officials completed the paperwork with Oxfam paying customs £2 750 per day "demurrage", the newspaper said.
Oxfam faced three choices: pay the 300% import tax, hand over the vehicles or re-export them, sources told the paper.
The charity said it felt it had "no choice" but to pay the charges rather than hold up its relief efforts further.
Up to a million people were initially left homeless after the tsunami.