World Bank appoints new anti-corruption head

6 May 2008

Three and a half months after the resignation of Suzanne Rich-Folsom, the controversial head of the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), the Bank has appointed Leonard McCarthy as the new head of its internal anti-corruption unit.

Reuters reports that Leonard McCarthy, the head of South Africa's Scorpions crime-fighting unit, has been appointed as the new head of the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), the Bank's internal, anti-corruption unit. He assumes his post on June 30, 2008.

According to the article, South African President Thabo Mbeki had agreed to release McCarthy from service to take up the position as vice president of the INT. The Scorpions, officially known as the Directorate of Special Operations, was independent of the South African police and reported to the National Prosecuting Authority. It was established to fight high-profile corruption cases and organized crime. However, the Scorpions were disbanded after pressure from supporters of Jacob Zuma accused it of political abuse. McCarthy was appointed to the World Bank post a day after the Scorpions were dissolved.

The INT had come under intense criticism under its former head, Susan Rich-Folsom's, leadership. An independent review of the INT conducted in September 2007 (known as the Volcker Panel review), found the internal anti-corruption unit was fraught with weak management and a conflict of interest at its upper management. Rich-Folsom resigned from her post in mid-January this year.

Source

South African "Scorpions" boss to join World Bank, by Leslie Wroughton, May 5, 2008. (Reuters website)