Former President Ronald Reagan famously said “Trust, but verify.” Reagan’s often-repeated phrase originally referred to his attitude toward agreements with the Soviet Union.

Reagan’s prudent advice could could be applied to many other scenariors, including an ongoing scandal involving earthquake recovery and relief efforts by the Red Cross in Haiti.

Critics of the iconic charity have alleged that the agency has spent too much on administrative costs and other internal expenses — and not enough helping Haitians.

The devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed more than 40,000 people produced an outpouring of donations to the Red Cross intended to fund recovery from catastrophic damage across the already struggling country.

The Red Cross raised about $500 million in its Haiti campaign, more than any other charity. It promised to build thoudands of new housing units or rebuild damaged houses and to improve inadequate sanitation conditions on the island.

Those promises never materialized.

A yearlong investigation by ProPublica and National Public Radio in 2015 raised serious questions about Red Cross spending and internal controls.

Investigative journalists found evidence suggesting that more than 25 percent of the money, $125 million, raised to help Haiti recover and rebuild was spent by the Red Cross and other charities on adminstrative expenses.

The Red Cross boasts that 90 percent of the money raised goes directly to humanitarian programs. But attempts by ProPublica and NPR to verify that claim were met with resistance and stonewalling, according to both organizations’ reporting and a related government report released by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Heartwarming Red Cross advertisements are seen on TV and online saying “Not all heroes wear capes” and urging viewers to “Be a hero. Donate today.”

The Red Cross reportedly resisted efforts of the federal Government Accountability Office and by investigative reporters to review the charity’s spending and internal controls related to work in Haiti.

In its defense, the Red Cross has said any problems in Haiti were due to the overwhelming complexity of the post-earthquake crisis.

Rather than stonewalling government investigators — to the point of having Red Cross lawyers argue the government had no right to review the agency’s spending — the charity should have admitted it was overwhelmed with the challenges in Haiti and that it made mistakes, including spending donated money inefficiently.

In addition to reportedly lax spending controls in Haiti, the Red Cross was put in the spotlight for outsourcing much of the relief work in Haiti. By doing so, the Red Cross allowed even more money to be diverted to other charities’ administrative expenses instead of relief efforts to help Haitians.

Efforts to prevent the GAO and others from reviewing its spending in Haiti are at odds with claims of transparency by the Red Cross. When people donate money to a charity, they expect that the money is being spent efficiently — and that 90 percent or more of any donation will go to help the people in need.

No organization, no matter how respected, is above scrutiny or criticism if mistakes are made or management loses sight of the core charitable mission.

The Red Cross should open up about how half-a-billlion dollars was spent in Haiti. It should be open about how much money actually went to help Haitians versus how much went to overhead at the Red Cross and other charitable groups subcontracted by the Red Cross.