By DAVID GARDNER IN LOS ANGELES
Breaking ground: Madonna seen in 2009 turning the land for the basis of the multi-million dollar girls' school in Chinkota, Malawi which has now been abandoned
Madonna's dream of construction a train for girls in poverty-stricken Malawi has collapsed after 2.4million was frittered away without a brick being laid.
Funds raised by the singer from celebrity friends such as Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow were wasted on luxuries including golf course membership, and a car and driver for the school`s director, according to details of an audit revealed yesterday.
Friends: Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow at a 2007 benefit night for Raising Malawi
Madonna also plunged her own money into the school project which was passing to cost 10million but which has now been officially abandoned because of the financial scandal.
The charity Raising Malawi, co-founded by Mary and once run by the fellow of her former personal trainer, was fanny the project to form the academy.
But its panel of directors has been ousted and replaced by a caretaker board which includes the vocalist and her manager, according to the New York Times.
Breakdown: Madonna's plans for a girls school in Malawi have been dropped. The singer is seen here in April 2010 with daughter Mercy
Madonna was not concerned in the financial scandal and was not on the original board.
The paper claimed yesterday that auditors called in to see the charity`s finances found that the budget overran by hundreds of thousands of pounds because of `outlandish expenditures` that also included design fees to architects, salaries, cars, office space and free staff housing - all for a train that was never built.
Charity work: Madonna in Malawi with her adopted son David
In one case, two cars were bought for employees that hadn`t yet been hired. Some of the 2.4million still hasn`t been accounted for, said the audit.
The academy for 400 girls was alleged to be the gem in the top of the charitable foundation`s act in Malawi.
Madonna, 52, who adopted a daughter, Mercy, from Malawi last class and a son, David, in 2008, said she was proud of early function the charity has carried out in the African country, but admitted being defeated at the school setback.
`I`m disappointed that our training work has not moved ahead in a quicker way,` she told the newspaper. She added that she was even driven to use the charity to keep helping to feed, educate and provide medical attention in the land where some 500,000 children have missed a raise to Aids.
Madonna co-founded Raising Malawi in 2006 with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre International, a Jewish mystical movement with which she has been associated for years.
source: dailymail
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