US Denies Seeking Delay in IMF Loan to Russia 　　The United States on September 1 denied that it seeks a halt in the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Russia. 　　In an interview with the US newspaper USA Today published Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the United States will seek a pause in the aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Russia until there is an adequate safeguards for the money. 　　"The US will not support disbursement of the next tranche without adequate safeguards to assure that any funds disbursed are used properly (and) without adequate accounting," Summers told the newspaper Tuesday. 　　However, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said what Summers said did not mean that the US seeks a delay to disbursements from the IMF's latest lending program to Russia. 　　"As it normally does, the IMF is doing its review with respect to the second tranche and it would be premature to make any judgement as to whether Russia will meet the conditions for that disbursement," the spokeswoman told reporters. 　　"The United States has insisted that there be adequate safeguards in place with respect to the current program and that there be an adequate accounting for the use of past funds," she said. 　　The 182-member IMF is scheduled to release another 640 million US dollars of a 4.5 billion U.S. dollars loan package to Russia. USA Today said the IMF has lent Russia 20 billion US dollars. 　　Reports said that some of the 10 billion US dollars allegedly funneled through the Bank of New York by Russian gangsters in a money-laundering scheme may have involved IMF loans to Russia. 　　The British Pricewaterhouse auditing firm has been conducting a study on the IMF loans. The US government is also investigating the allegations. But an IMF official said Monday that there was no evidence that the IMF loans were misused. 　　"As these investigations continue and as these revelations come to light, we'll have to make judgements about what constitutes a satisfactory accounting," Summers was quoted by USA Today as saying. (Xinhua) WorldNews 1999-09-03 Page6 Full Story in Chinese