A Red Cross branch in southwest China has attracted public criticism after it was discovered that money in its donation boxes was left uncollected for 4 years and had gone moldy.

The Red Cross society in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, installed the donation boxes in 2008 after a devastating earthquake struck the province in May.

Yet the organization did not collect the donated money from the boxes until June 2012, when it announced it had received 6,116 yuan ($980) from donors, Beijing News reported on Wednesday, citing a manager surnamed Wei from a company that launched the joint philanthropic effort with the charity.

Wei said the Chengdu Red Cross violated an agreement to install 1,000 donation boxes. Only 726 boxes were installed as planned, and the rest were delayed due to personnel changes and inconsistent work from the charity.

Wei said only 190 donation boxes function properly. More than 500 donation boxes were deserted in a warehouse and some were stolen.

The Chengdu Red Cross did not respond to accusations of negligence and poor supervision in maintaining the donation boxes.

The contract, signed in June 2008, is supposed to last for 20 years. Each donation box is about 1 meter high and is fitted with a TV monitor.

The Chengdu Red Cross is in charge of collecting donations. Two companies pay for the donation boxes and expect to recover the cost from advertising playing on the TV monitors.

liyao@chinadaily.com.cn