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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
World Bank Board endorses
management response
A parliament for Somalia
Common Code for the
Coffee Community
Corruption: World Bank sanctions Acres Ltd.
Development policy
and terrorism
Peaceworkers wanted
Lending guidelines overhauled
Wieczorek-Zeul pledges
German assistance
Bad marks for the IMF
10/2004
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Corruption: World Bank sanctions Acres Ltd.
Canadian engineering company Acres International Ltd. has been barred from World Bank contracts for three years on grounds of corruption. Acres is one of three companies so far to be convicted and fined by the High Court of Lesotho for bribery in connection with the Lesotho Highlands Water project (see D+C 2003:10, p. 359). In a press statement, the World Bank said its own investigation into the matter convinced the Sanctions Committee that bribery had indeed taken place, meaning that Acres had violated the Bank's procurement standards.
In an earlier investigation following the preferment of charges by the Lesotho public prosecutor, the World Bank had found the evidence against Acres was insufficient. According to the San Francisco-based organisation International Rivers Network, the company was awarded three more World Bank contracts between its conviction at the end of 2002 and the announcement of its present debarment. In deciding on the level of penalty required, the World Bank Sanctions Committee took account of the facts that the Lesotho High Court already has ordered Acres to pay a fine and that the employees involved in the company's work for the Lesotho project are no longer in “positions of responsibility”. (ell)
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