Re: WB-corruption

[Patrick Bond]

In Johannesburg, we drink water tainted by WB-supported corruption,
which included a false promise to fund the investigation and
prosecution into Lesotho Highlands Water Project dam-related bribery.
A couple of years ago, the Bank even gave a green light to more work
by Acres Int'l and Lahmeyer -- two big construction companies since
convicted of bribery -- and at least ten others (including the biggie,
ABB) are up for prosecution in coming weeks and months. So instead of
debarring, the Bank actively sabotaged the attempts to stop the
bribery on Africa's largest single project. You can imagine how
incredibly difficult it will be when the WB is faced with pressure to
debar ABB, it's largest contractor.

This is yet another reason for us all to support this excellent
campaign: http://www.worldbankbboycott.org

If any of you have money in your academic pension fund routed through
TIAA-CREF, you'll be happy to know that last week, they officially rid
themselves of the last WB bonds on their books. If that is your money
they were investing in the Bank, you can proudly say that you no
longer profit from global apartheid via the World Bank.


 Does anybody know if the WB publishes the blacklisted corporations?
The
 list is only ...nearly 100 companies and individuals .. 
Pathetically
 short list, but I'd like to see it.

 Gene Coyle

 Eubulides wrote:

 World Bank Focused on Fighting Corruption
 Graft and Bribery, Once Tolerated, Punished by Blacklisting

WB-corruption

[Eubulides]

World Bank Focused on Fighting Corruption
Graft and Bribery, Once Tolerated, Punished by Blacklisting

By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 4, 2003; Page E01


Once upon a time, World Bank financiers viewed their mission in narrow
terms: Lend money to poor countries to try to make them richer. The
governments that borrowed the money might let a bribe determine who was
awarded a contract, and money intended for new highways or hospitals was
sometimes siphoned off for other purposes, such as buying weapons. But
overall, bank officials said, a little bit of corruption was tolerable --
often necessary -- to make economic development work.

They don't say that anymore.

Responding to evidence that corruption impedes the progress of failing
economies, the World Bank in the late 1990s began cracking down on the
corrupt practices of its borrowers. The one thing I'm proudest of is our
work on corruption, bank President James D. Wolfensohn said recently.

Before he took office in 1995, Wolfensohn said, the bank considered
corruption an issue of politics, as opposed to one of economic
development. Now, it is now central to what we do.

Under Wolfensohn, the bank began participating in international efforts to
fight corruption. It developed internal controls to audit its projects. It
compiled a blacklist of nearly 100 companies and individuals banned from
receiving bank-funded contracts because of bribery, theft or for breaking
other rules. Since 1996, the bank has started more than 600
anti-corruption programs in nearly 100 countries, according to a published
statement.

Some observers of the World Bank -- which reported that it lent $19.5
billion of dollars in the year ended June 30, 2002 -- say it should be
doing more to discourage the governments and companies it works with from
misusing its money, which comes mostly from the governments of rich
countries. The bank has continued to fund projects in countries where
corruption is said to be rampant, such as Bangladesh. Only one country,
Kenya, has been prohibited from receiving bank loans because of its
government's corrupt practices, and that was temporary. Despite the
blacklist, the bank sometimes has been reluctant to ban companies that
violate its rules.

Because many of the world's most corrupt countries are also among the
poorest, the bank's new stance can force difficult choices between
continuing aid to a country that needs it and cutting it to discourage
corruption. Poor countries are also notoriously poor record-keepers,
making auditing more difficult.

No one says this is easy. It's a trade-off, said Peter Eigen, founder
and president of Transparency International, a corruption watchdog group.
You can't just have a simplistic link between the level of corruption and
the level of funding. Some of these countries would really struggle
without the bank's loans.

Eigen, who left the World Bank in 1991 when his pleas for a stronger
anti-corruption stance were ignored, said he believes that under
Wolfensohn the bank has made fighting corruption a priority.

It's very hard to change a large organization like the World Bank, and
they're still working through this, Eigen said. They were pretty bad,
and allowed [corruption] to become a major problem. There's been a total
change in policy, but to change from policy to total implementation is a
long way to go. While I'd be hard pressed to say they've licked it, they
are an enthusiastic and effective partner.

The U.S. General Accounting Office evaluated the bank's anti-corruption
efforts and gave a mixed review in a June report. While it found that the
bank had taken important steps toward reducing internal corruption, the
agency also recommended further action, including a more extensive audit
of whether the bank's loans are used for their intended purposes.

The bank has a long way to go, said William Easterly, an economics
professor at New York University. If the client is important enough
geostrategically or one they want to cultivate in the long run, they will
continue lending to them, despite long histories of corruption. They
continue forcing loans down that pipe.

Corruption can take many forms, but it is usually defined as the misuse of
public office or money for private gain. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
most academic literature on economic development argued that corruption
could help grease the wheels of a fledgling economy. But after several
studies showed that corruption impedes development, many foreign aid
programs began advocating zero tolerance toward corruption.

The World Bank responded to the shifting conventional wisdom. Soon after
Wolfensohn railed against the cancer of corruption at the bank's 1996
annual meeting in Hong Kong, the bank formed an investigative body to
audit its loans and set up a 24-hour hotline to allow staff and members of
the public to report allegations of corruption.

In November 1998 the bank convened a sanctions committee to punish
companies and 

Re: WB-corruption

[Michael Perelman]

The WB fights retail corruption, not wholesale corruption.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: WB-corruption

[Eugene Coyle]

Does anybody know if the WB publishes the blacklisted corporations?  The
list is only ...nearly 100 companies and individuals ..  Pathetically
short list, but I'd like to see it.
Gene Coyle

Eubulides wrote:

World Bank Focused on Fighting Corruption
Graft and Bribery, Once Tolerated, Punished by Blacklisting
By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 4, 2003; Page E01
Once upon a time, World Bank financiers viewed their mission in narrow
terms: Lend money to poor countries to try to make them richer. The
governments that borrowed the money might let a bribe determine who was
awarded a contract, and money intended for new highways or hospitals was
sometimes siphoned off for other purposes, such as buying weapons. But
overall, bank officials said, a little bit of corruption was tolerable --
often necessary -- to make economic development work.
They don't say that anymore.

Responding to evidence that corruption impedes the progress of failing
economies, the World Bank in the late 1990s began cracking down on the
corrupt practices of its borrowers. The one thing I'm proudest of is our
work on corruption, bank President James D. Wolfensohn said recently.
Before he took office in 1995, Wolfensohn said, the bank considered
corruption an issue of politics, as opposed to one of economic
development. Now, it is now central to what we do.
Under Wolfensohn, the bank began participating in international efforts to
fight corruption. It developed internal controls to audit its projects. It
compiled a blacklist of nearly 100 companies and individuals banned from
receiving bank-funded contracts because of bribery, theft or for breaking
other rules. Since 1996, the bank has started more than 600
anti-corruption programs in nearly 100 countries, according to a published
statement.
Some observers of the World Bank -- which reported that it lent $19.5
billion of dollars in the year ended June 30, 2002 -- say it should be
doing more to discourage the governments and companies it works with from
misusing its money, which comes mostly from the governments of rich
countries. The bank has continued to fund projects in countries where
corruption is said to be rampant, such as Bangladesh. Only one country,
Kenya, has been prohibited from receiving bank loans because of its
government's corrupt practices, and that was temporary. Despite the
blacklist, the bank sometimes has been reluctant to ban companies that
violate its rules.
Because many of the world's most corrupt countries are also among the
poorest, the bank's new stance can force difficult choices between
continuing aid to a country that needs it and cutting it to discourage
corruption. Poor countries are also notoriously poor record-keepers,
making auditing more difficult.
No one says this is easy. It's a trade-off, said Peter Eigen, founder
and president of Transparency International, a corruption watchdog group.
You can't just have a simplistic link between the level of corruption and
the level of funding. Some of these countries would really struggle
without the bank's loans.
Eigen, who left the World Bank in 1991 when his pleas for a stronger
anti-corruption stance were ignored, said he believes that under
Wolfensohn the bank has made fighting corruption a priority.
It's very hard to change a large organization like the World Bank, and
they're still working through this, Eigen said. They were pretty bad,
and allowed [corruption] to become a major problem. There's been a total
change in policy, but to change from policy to total implementation is a
long way to go. While I'd be hard pressed to say they've licked it, they
are an enthusiastic and effective partner.
The U.S. General Accounting Office evaluated the bank's anti-corruption
efforts and gave a mixed review in a June report. While it found that the
bank had taken important steps toward reducing internal corruption, the
agency also recommended further action, including a more extensive audit
of whether the bank's loans are used for their intended purposes.
The bank has a long way to go, said William Easterly, an economics
professor at New York University. If the client is important enough
geostrategically or one they want to cultivate in the long run, they will
continue lending to them, despite long histories of corruption. They
continue forcing loans down that pipe.
Corruption can take many forms, but it is usually defined as the misuse of
public office or money for private gain. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
most academic literature on economic development argued that corruption
could help grease the wheels of a fledgling economy. But after several
studies showed that corruption impedes development, many foreign aid
programs began advocating zero tolerance toward corruption.
The World Bank responded to the shifting conventional wisdom. Soon after
Wolfensohn railed against the cancer of corruption at the bank's 1996
annual meeting in Hong Kong, the bank formed an investigative body to
audit its 

Re: WB-corruption

[Eubulides]

- Original Message -
From: Eugene Coyle [EMAIL PROTECTED]



 Does anybody know if the WB publishes the blacklisted corporations?  The
 list is only ...nearly 100 companies and individuals ..  Pathetically
 short list, but I'd like to see it.

 Gene Coyle

===

Surf's up:

http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/anticorrupt/