The organization's Chengdu branch was found to have carelessly signed a contract with two advertising companies to set up the donation boxes, but it later broke the contract and left the boxes untended.

The report was released by the Red Cross Social Supervision Committee, a group of independent experts financially separate from the charity, officials said。

The report said the Chengdu branch put hundreds of donation boxes in public venues after the devastating earthquake on May 12, 2008, to raise funds to aid earthquake victims, but it didn't collect the money until June 2012. The earthquake left about 90,000 people dead and missing。

It signed a contract with the companies on June 25, 2008, to set up the boxes. According to the contract, the companies paid for the boxes and were allowed to play advertising videos on screens on the top of the boxes to make money. The contract required that the Chengdu Red Cross collect cash from the boxes regularly. The deal was to last 20 years and it was signed by the branch and approved by the Chengdu city government, said the report。

But in September 2008, the branch had some major personnel changes and many new staff members were not fully aware of the contract's terms。

Since then, many boxes were left on the streets untended, with about 30 being stolen and some shut down as electric bills weren't paid in time。

Some new staff members who thought that the 20-year contract was too long asked the companies to modify the terms but were rejected, the report said, adding that the Chengdu branch didn't carefully study the contract's terms and failed to resolve problems through legal means.

Many of the boxes were badly damaged, with some parts stolen, The Beijing News reported. About 500 boxes were later abandoned in a warehouse. The newspaper published photographs showing banknotes in the boxes covered in mold alongside advertising leaflets and other rubbish。

Shortly after news reports on the moldy money, the branch claimed on its website on December 26 that it had collected all the donated money and that the pictures of the moldy banknotes might have been shot two years ago。

On Monday, branch officials apologized for "poor management," saying they were "deeply sorry" for the incident。

The supervision committee also said yesterday that the Red Cross Society of China has nothing to do with a group of villas in Beijing. The committee launched an investigation after an online post accused the society of having run a group of villas as entertainment venue for 10 years。

“在座的记者朋友们之前一定也参加过其他的新闻发布会，大家一定也能感觉到这次新闻发布会的特别之处：没有布置横幅，也没有为大家准备车马费。因为我们开展调查的所有经费都来自中国红十字会，我们要节约每一分钱。所以，还请大家多多包涵。”中国红十字会社会监督委员会(以下简称“红会社监委”)新闻发言人王永说。听到这里，一些参加红会社监委首次新闻发布会的记者会意地一笑。

这的确是一场有些特别的新闻发布会——一个由社会各界专业人士组成、以第三方身份对中国红十字会有关工作进行监督的专门机构，发布对红十字会特定事项调查的相关信息。尽管王永数次提到，目前的调查报告只是根据部分委员调查收集的情况作出的初步版本，但这场新闻发布会仍吸引了70余人旁听。

尽管在发给媒体的邀请函中，红会社监委提到将发布三项内容，包括解读红会社监委章程、发布“红会在京购别墅群”和“成都红会募捐箱捐款发霉”事件的调查结果，但现场大多数记者的提问集中在第三项。2012年12月26日，有媒体刊发报道称，成都市红十字会于2008年6月设立的募捐箱中的善款，因监管不力、多年未取而发生霉变。此事件很快引起媒体和公众的广泛关注。

2012年12月26日深夜，成都市红十字会在其官方网站发布了《成都市红十字视频募捐箱项目有关情况的说明》，称善款发霉系因与合作方“在项目合作中存在分歧，募捐善款未及时收取”，并列出了通过募捐箱收集的善款数量及使用情况。但该网页已于2012年12月27日被删除。(见本报2012年12月28日报道《成都红会善款发霉引发信任危机》)

在今天的新闻发布会上，上述情况得到了红会社监委的回应。“根据我们的初步调查，成都市红十字会12月26日晚发布的‘情况说明’存在避实就虚、推卸责任的情况，对一些问题采取了选择性的描述。”王永说，“我们注意到，成都市红十字会已于2012年12月31日发布了一份措辞诚恳的声明。对此，红会社监委表示满意。”

据王永介绍，红会社监委的部分委员在调查中发现，此前媒体报道的情况“基本属实”——成都红十字会设置的部分募捐箱中的善款确实存在霉变、积尘的现象；此外，因为成都市红十字会的管理疏忽，还存在部分募捐箱被盗或遭到损毁的现象。

王永表示，经初步调查、研讨，红会社监委向中国红十字总会提出了3点建议，包括对成都红十字会“善款霉变”事件举一反三，就全国范围内的红十字会募捐箱进行排查；出台募捐箱管理办法，进行规范；出台统一的红十字会合作伙伴资格审查办法等。

“目前，中国红十字总会已经下发通知，在全国范围内开展对募捐箱的规范整顿工作。募捐箱管理办法正在制定中。”王永说，“我们对中国红十字总会能够积极回应并采纳我们的建议表示欢迎。”

红会社监委于2012年12月7日成立，中国(海南)改革发展研究院院长迟福林、中央电视台主持人白岩松等16人被聘为首批委员。(记者来扬 王亦君)

来源：《外语小事》博客