ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has again assured international donors and his countrymen that earthquake reconstruction funds would be used in a transparent manner.

“We are committed to improving transparency and making enforcement and audit stronger,” he told a two-day workshop on “transparent utilization of earthquake reconstruction funds” which opened here on Tuesday.

“Everything that the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rebuilding Authority (Erra) gets (and spends) will be transparent,” he said.

International donors have pledged $6.5 billion and the President’s Relief Fund has received over Rs6 billion for the purpose.

The Berlin-based Transparency International’s director, Mr Peter Rooke, earlier said that the ‘oil-for-food’ scandal of Iraq and the tsunami of 2004 acted as a catalyst to address the issue of “corruption in disaster situations”.

“Pakistan is not a new country in receiving (aid),” observed the prime minister, stressing that transparency was “one of the hallmarks” of his government.

External and domestic auditors, people of high integrity and the parliament would keep utilization of earthquake funds under scrutiny, he said.

Above all, the prime minister said, a vibrant media exists in the country, which “can ask any question - after doing research. And we act fast, we react immediately”.

However, he said, the procurement and distribution stages ran the risk of being murky. “There must be a standard for NGOs to be transparent — how they hire staff, collect and spend (their funds)”.

Mr Aziz disclosed that it was he who, as an international banker, had advised Transparency International “to chase corrupt money too, not just bad people and bad business contracts”. His initiative — and 9/11 — led to the framing of anti-money laundering laws.