NEW YORK, May 9 (OneWorld) - After staying away for several weeks, humanitarian workers with a leading international charity organization are back to work in Indonesia's Aceh region, which was worst-hit by the devastating tsunami of December 2004.

Oxfam officials say the probe conducted by its internal auditors with the help of Indonesian experts and the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found some discrepancies between "amounts paid to suppliers for goods and the quantity of goods delivered."

"The investigators have found that some contractors were charging Oxfam for the material, but were not delivering," Steve Green, an Oxfam America spokesperson, told OneWorld.

Green said due to irregularities, the organization had suffered a loss amounting to $22,000. Out of that amount, about $20,000 has been recovered as a result of the inquiry.

Considering the scope of the group's humanitarian activities, the loss Oxfam has suffered seems negligible. Since December 2004, the charity group has spent about $123 million in carrying out its humanitarian work.

In the Aceh region, where hundreds of thousands of people suffered from the devastation caused by the tsunami, Oxfam officials have provided both essential and nonessential goods and services to the victims, which cost around $40 million.

The investigation found that while Oxfam's policies and procedures meet the highest standards, "weak management and monitoring systems" in certain areas, aggravated by high staff turnover and difficulties with recruitment, created the possibility for fraud to occur.

The probe found that mostly the irregularities were committed in the distribution of construction material. The investigators did not find any evidence of wrongdoing in the supply of essential items such as food and medicine.

Oxfam says it is determined to take disciplinary action against 22 of its staffers for violating the organization's rules and regulations. As many as 10 of them are likely to face dismissal for gross misconduct relating to financial abuse.

The group said the amount involved in the fraud represented a "tiny proportion" of the aid relief program in Aceh, but added it hoped the probe showed its commitment to high standards of accountability.

"We take this issue very seriously," said Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "We have learned important lessons and will remain vigilant in the future. The public who gave so generously should be reassured that the money they donated continues to help change the lives of people who were so devastated by the tsunami."

Oxfam is now considering taking new measures to improve its methods of training for the staff in Aceh and plans to strengthen its logistics and human resources teams in the next three months.

Around 130,000 people died in Aceh when the tsunami hit the area a year and a half ago. The disaster left more than 500,000 people homeless in the area.

In 2004, the horrifying images from the tsunami provoked a massive international response with money coming in from governments and private donors, but recently many aid agencies have criticized officials' actions in tsunami-hit areas.

In a report recently released at the United Nations, many aid agencies said coastal dwellers in tsunami-affected areas were being discouraged or even stopped from returning to their land. They also accused governments of ignoring the needs of the locals in order to support commercial interests.

The report said villagers in India's Andhara Pradesh state were facing forcible removal from their homes because developers were building tourist resorts on tsunami-hit areas and in Sri Lanka many affected families told aid agencies they still did not know if they would be able to rebuild their homes.

In Aceh, as in other places, a large number of tsunami victims are still living in overcrowded temporary shelters or tents and poor living conditions leave many young girls and women vulnerable to sexual harassment and intimidation, according to UN-backed report.

Considering the enormity of damage and destruction that the tsunami has caused in Aceh, aid groups say it may take years for the locals to be able to rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

For its part, Oxfam says, despite the difficulties, it remains determined to continue its development activities in Aceh and other areas over the coming years.