World Bank puts Armenian fraud case on hold

[groul]

Думаю особо переводить не надо. Вкратце: английская газета Обсервер рассказывает о том, как в очередной раз кредит Всемирного Банка ушли не туда, куда надо: деньги выделенные на починку системы водоснабжения Еревана были затем перенаправлены на установку счетчиков. При этом подрядчики незаконным образом (о, не может быть!) взимали за установку дополнительную плату с ничего не подозревающих граждан. А сам Всемирный Банк тянет с расследованием, видать есть тому причины

World Bank puts Armenian fraud case on hold

Britain wants action on reports that a water project is mired in corruption. Heather Stewart reports

Sunday September 30, 2007

The Observer

Britain is urging the World Bank to investigate allegations of corruption and embezzlement in a $35m (£17m) water project in Armenia, which the Washington-based body says are only of 'medium priority'. Bruce Tasker, a British whistleblower, says he has presented the bank with evidence of large-scale fraud in a project to improve the water supply in the Armenian capital Yerevan, but it has so far refused to carry out a full-blown investigation.

Article continues

With its conciliatory new boss Robert Zoellick at the helm, the World Bank is keen to make a fresh start after the humiliating departure of Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year. Wolfowitz stormed into the bank promising to crack down on corruption, but ended up being embroiled in an ethics scandal of his own concerning lavish pay rises for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.

Persuading the world's richest countries that their taxpayers' money is being well spent is a critical part of Zoellick's job, but the Armenian case is just one of a backlog of allegations waiting to be examined by the Bank's Institutional Integrity Department - or INT, as it is known.

INT wrote to Washington-based pressure group the Government Accountability Project (Gap), which is backing Tasker's claims, saying the case was 'rank ordered "medium" priority, and as such remains in a queue pending the availability of investigative resources'.

The British Ambassador in Armenia has written to the World Bank, urging it to carry out a full investigation.

'We've run into a wall,' said Gap's director, Bea Edwards. 'We have extensive documentation. It involves high-level government officers, a lot of money and basic services. What else do they want? They've been completely unhelpful.'

She says the Armenian case is important, because it could point to potential problems in the way other World Bank projects are run, particularly in the former Soviet Union.

Tasker is a British engineer appointed by an Armenian parliamentary commission investigating the Yerevan scheme. He claims that as soon as he began to examine the details of the project, it became clear that it was riddled with corruption, 'from start to finish, from top to bottom. The fact is it was not an isolated case of a few thousand dollars here or there, it was tens of millions of dollars.'

The original purpose of the project was to repair Yerevan's pipelines, and improve the water supply to households, but he says that by the time the work got under way it had shifted to installing water meters instead.

Tasker claims contractors were able to pocket up to $10 profit on the sale of each meter by charging customers for installation. His commission was told that the average number of water meters per customer was 1.5.

The bank's failure to pursue the allegations underlines the critical findings of a panel chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, which revealed serious weaknesses in the way the way INT investigates allegations of wrongdoing. INT is run by a Wolfowitz appointee, Suzanne Folsom. Volcker's team found that the unit had achieved 'some notable successes', but warned of 'serious operational issues and severe strains in relations' with other parts of the bank, and said its work had sometimes contributed to 'counterproductive relations' with both donor and recipient countries.

Wolfowitz's critics had accused him of cracking down hard on alleged corruption in countries where the US has a political axe to grind, but turning a blind eye to problems in more friendly regions of the world.

Jeff Powell, of pressure group the Bretton Woods project, said it was still too often left to politicians to decide which allegations to pursue. 'This case is indicative of the fact that senior management and the board of the World Bank have not taken seriously the issue of corruption,' he said.

A World Bank spokesman said he would not comment on a specific case.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/st...2179920,00.html

[Firefly]

Думаю особо переводить не надо. Вкратце: английская газета Обсервер рассказывает о том, как в очередной раз кредит Всемирного Банка ушли не туда, куда надо: деньги выделенные на починку системы водоснабжения Еревана были затем перенаправлены на установку счетчиков. При этом подрядчики незаконным образом (о, не может быть!) взимали за установку дополнительную плату с ничего не подозревающих граждан. А сам Всемирный Банк тянет с расследованием, видать есть тому причины

World Bank puts Armenian fraud case on hold

Britain wants action on reports that a water project is mired in corruption. Heather Stewart reports

Sunday September 30, 2007

The Observer

Britain is urging the World Bank to investigate allegations of corruption and embezzlement in a $35m (£17m) water project in Armenia, which the Washington-based body says are only of 'medium priority'. Bruce Tasker, a British whistleblower, says he has presented the bank with evidence of large-scale fraud in a project to improve the water supply in the Armenian capital Yerevan, but it has so far refused to carry out a full-blown investigation.

Article continues

With its conciliatory new boss Robert Zoellick at the helm, the World Bank is keen to make a fresh start after the humiliating departure of Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year. Wolfowitz stormed into the bank promising to crack down on corruption, but ended up being embroiled in an ethics scandal of his own concerning lavish pay rises for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.

Persuading the world's richest countries that their taxpayers' money is being well spent is a critical part of Zoellick's job, but the Armenian case is just one of a backlog of allegations waiting to be examined by the Bank's Institutional Integrity Department - or INT, as it is known.

INT wrote to Washington-based pressure group the Government Accountability Project (Gap), which is backing Tasker's claims, saying the case was 'rank ordered "medium" priority, and as such remains in a queue pending the availability of investigative resources'.

The British Ambassador in Armenia has written to the World Bank, urging it to carry out a full investigation.

'We've run into a wall,' said Gap's director, Bea Edwards. 'We have extensive documentation. It involves high-level government officers, a lot of money and basic services. What else do they want? They've been completely unhelpful.'

She says the Armenian case is important, because it could point to potential problems in the way other World Bank projects are run, particularly in the former Soviet Union.

Tasker is a British engineer appointed by an Armenian parliamentary commission investigating the Yerevan scheme. He claims that as soon as he began to examine the details of the project, it became clear that it was riddled with corruption, 'from start to finish, from top to bottom. The fact is it was not an isolated case of a few thousand dollars here or there, it was tens of millions of dollars.'

The original purpose of the project was to repair Yerevan's pipelines, and improve the water supply to households, but he says that by the time the work got under way it had shifted to installing water meters instead.

Tasker claims contractors were able to pocket up to $10 profit on the sale of each meter by charging customers for installation. His commission was told that the average number of water meters per customer was 1.5.

The bank's failure to pursue the allegations underlines the critical findings of a panel chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, which revealed serious weaknesses in the way the way INT investigates allegations of wrongdoing. INT is run by a Wolfowitz appointee, Suzanne Folsom. Volcker's team found that the unit had achieved 'some notable successes', but warned of 'serious operational issues and severe strains in relations' with other parts of the bank, and said its work had sometimes contributed to 'counterproductive relations' with both donor and recipient countries.

Wolfowitz's critics had accused him of cracking down hard on alleged corruption in countries where the US has a political axe to grind, but turning a blind eye to problems in more friendly regions of the world.

Jeff Powell, of pressure group the Bretton Woods project, said it was still too often left to politicians to decide which allegations to pursue. 'This case is indicative of the fact that senior management and the board of the World Bank have not taken seriously the issue of corruption,' he said.

A World Bank spokesman said he would not comment on a specific case.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/st...2179920,00.html

[alef]

Англичанам надо со своего представителя начать, который свою бабу в WB в Вашингтон устроил. Как в совке, ни фига не делает только зарплату получает. Весь отдел от нее избавиться не может. А так это не самое громкое обвинение, чего только коррупция в проекте по здравоохранению в Индии стоит

[tiko]

речь идет о нашей стране.

[alef]

Ага. Например в нашей стране представителю немецкого банка просто набили морду когда он стал интересоваться некоторыми "расxождениями" в декларированной и проделанной работе. Морду бил контрактор того же ведомства о котором идет речь в статье. Насколько я знаю кроме немца никто не пострадал.

Так что расследование подобныx дел может очень дорого обойтись представителям всемирного банка, особенно учитывая что сушественная часть его работников местные граждане.

[tiko]

Блажен кто верует

[groul]

Продолжение истории. Выясняется, что:

1. Первыми о нецелевом использовании заговорили... армянские парламентарии еще в 2004 г.

2. ВБ не особо расположено расследовать это дело. Можно предположить, что и у добрых банкиров рыльце в пушку.

===============

WORLD BANK AGAIN DEFENDS USE OF ARMENIA WATER LOAN

By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.

Oct 4 2007

The World Bank on Thursday again shrugged off embarrassing allegations

about gross misuse of a $30 million loan to Armenia that were

first made by an Armenian parliamentary commission in 2004 and have

resurfaced in recent weeks.

The loan was part of a 1999 World Bank project designed to upgrade

the country's water infrastructure and improve Yerevan residents'

access to drinking water. The Armenian parliament formed in 2003 an

ad hoc commission to investigate the effectiveness of these and other

large-scale infrastructure projects financed by Western donors.

In its first report made public in March 2004, the commission headed

by deputy speaker Vahan Hovannisian concluded that the water scheme

has failed to achieve its main objectives to due to mismanagement and

corruption among government officials and private firms. The report

deplored the fact that 27 percent of the World Bank funds have been

spent on project management, overheads and logistics.

The World Bank office dismissed the claims at the time, insisting

that the project's implementation has been a success.

The Washington-based institution, which has been Armenia's principal

lender, was again put on the defense recently by Bruce Tasker, a

Yerevan-based British engineer who had participated in the 2003-2004

parliamentary inquiry as an expert. Tasker detailed those allegations

on his website and effectively implicated the World Bank in the

alleged corruption.

"The fact is it was not an isolated case of a few thousand dollars

here or there, it was tens of millions of dollars," Britain's "The

Observer" newspaper quoted him as saying on Sunday.

The paper said the British ambassador to Armenia, Anthony Cantor,

has urged the World Bank to investigate Tasker's claims. But it said

the bank is in no rush to do that, having cited a backlog of such

cases brought before its management.

"Our country office and teams from Washington have disclosed fully all

information available on this project to the parliamentary commission,"

the head of the bank's Yerevan office, Aristomene Varoudakis, told

reporters on Thursday. "That includes all external technical audits

and financial audits of the project."

"So based on this information made available back in 2004 and 2005,

when this investigation was initiated, there was no evidence of any

fraud or mismanagement in this project," said Varoudakis.

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian also weighed in on the case late

Wednesday, saying that his government is ready to again look into the

corruption allegations. "The World Bank looked into his claims and

found no serious violations," he said. "I think in spite of that we

will once again address the matter because the opinion of the English

engineer is extremely important for us."

Sarkisian at the same time questioned the credibility of the

allegations, saying that Tasker has a personal grudge against a French

company that currently manages the Yerevan water network and its

Italian predecessor that used the World Bank loan. "That engineer used

to work with the Italians, then the French didn't hire him and then

other events took place and he appealed to the World Bank," he said.

The World Bank loan was tied to the Armenian government's sweeping

reform and restructuring of the country's obsolete water and sewerage

network. As part of that reform, hundreds of thousands of Armenian

households had to buy and install water meters in their homes. The

government had promised that, as a result, virtually all Yerevan

residents will have running water 24 hours a day by 2004. It has

clearly failed to fulfill the pledge.

Veolia Eau, the French utility giant running the Yerevan network, has

said that it will need a decade to ensure 24-hour water to the vast

majority of local households. The operator argues that as much as 80

percent of drinking waters leaks out of eroding pipes before reaching

consumers. The World Bank funds were supposed to significantly reduce

the huge losses.

[Kornelij Glas]

ну да- помню такое- потом заглохло- приехали великие аудиторы. заграница помогла загранице, заодно и нам

[groul]

UK DEMANDS INVESTIGATION OF WORLD BANK CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS IN ARMENIA

By M. Alkhazashvili

The Messenger, Georgia

Oct 4 2007

The British government has pressed the World Bank to investigate

claims that its Armenia office has been involved in corruption,

reports the news agency Regnum.

In 2004 British national Bruce Tasker operated as part of an Armenian

Municipal Development Project Study into a USD 35 million World Bank

project to improve Yerevan's water supply.

The study quickly discovered shortcomings and irregularities and,

according to Tasker, revealed the director general of the Yerevan

Water & Sewerage Company had embezzled tens of millions of dollars

from the Armenian state budget.

However, more sensationally, the team claimed its findings implicated

the World Bank as "undoubtedly" a collaborator in a "wide-ranging

agenda of corruption."

Although at the time the allegations elicited apparent "concern"

from the World Bank office in Yerevan, it appears attempts were made

by high-ranking Armenian political figures to shut down the project.

The allegations have remained out of the public eye until recently,

when the story broke in Washington over the summer and Tasker was

summoned to a meeting with the British Ambassador in Washington,

according to Tasker's website.