9 June 2006
The projects in question are land management and administration, infrastructure, and water supply and sanitation projects.
In yet another incident in its renewed and highly-publicized campaign against corruption, this week the World Bank suspended loans to three projects in Cambodia.
The projects in question are land management and administration, infrastructure, and water supply and sanitation projects.
The Associated Press reports that the Bank has claimed evidence of corruption in a total of seven projects in the country, including four that are either completed or nearly completed. The Bank currently provides about $244 million in funding to the country.
The suspension of funds may be lifted "after the government has implemented an action plan, agreed with the World Bank, to introduce new [anti-corruption] measures for each of the three projects," a Bank spokesperson told the InterPress Service News Agency.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz denounced corruption as "one of the biggest threats to development in many countries," claiming that it "weakens fundamental systems, it distorts markets, and it encourages people to apply their skills and energies in nonproductive ways." While many would agree on the negative impacts of corruption, opinions diverge on how the Bank should address this broadly recognized "development cancer".
The institution is developing an anti-corruption framework for presentation to the Development Committee at the September 2006 Annual Meetings. Civil society groups have called for the active inclusion of external stakeholders in this process. A framework developed behind closed doors by a select group of Wolfowitz's advisors is unlikely to generate the broad ownership that is necessary for it to succeed.
Civil society groups are also calling for the institution to address odious and illegitimate debts due to past corruption, and take all appropriate steps to stamp out corruption internally.
Since taking office Wolfowitz has suspended various project loans, and in a few cases overall lending, to Chad, Kenya, Congo Braazaville, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and Cambodia due to allegations of corruption.
Resources
- World Bank Freezes Funds to Protest Corruption, Marwaan Macan-Markar, Inter Press Service News Agency, June 8, 2006 (www.ipsnews.net)
- World Bank suspends three Cambodian projects, Associated Press, June 6, 2006 (www.businessweek.com)
- The World Bank weeds out corruption: Will it touch the roots?, Bretton Woods Project, April 8, 2006 (Bretton Woods Project website)
- Wolfowitz Needs to Look at Corruption of Yesterday, Not Just Today and Follow the Positive Example of Norway, by Gail Hurley, June 1, 2006 (Eurodad website)