Burma

Burmese junta not only good at stealing some of the foreign aid money n food coming in from Cyclone Nagis, even the Burmese's exchange market can not escape the creative theft powers of those generals.

The generals are reportedly pocketing tens of millions of dollars of foreign aid intended for cyclone victims by manipulating the rate at which the money is exchanged into local currency. The junta insists that US dollars and other hard currency entering the country must be converted first of all into so-called Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) and then into the Burmese currency, kyat. This month the exchange rate for FECs dropped to 880 kyat to the dollar, while one dollar fetches 1,180 kyat at unofficial exchanges in Rangoon and other Burmese cities. The discrepancy results in a surplus of almost 30 per cent in the regime’s favour in its cyclone relief budget.