WB team at ACC

 

Luis Moreno Ocampo

The three-member panel of World Bank, assigned to review the investigation into the Padma bridge corruption allegation, reached the Anti-Corruption Commission's Segunbagicha office Sunday afternoon.
Two white Land Cruisers carrying the WB panel members arrived at the anti-graft body's office around 3:18pm.
Ellen Goldstein, WB country director in Bangladesh, was also accompanying the team.
The team will sit with a four-member probe body of the ACC which has been investigating into the graft allegations centring Padma bridge project.
This is the maiden visit of the WB team of a series of visits to assess the conduct of the Anti-Corruption Commission's probe into the alleged corruption in the project.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is leading the delegation, which will submit a report to the World Bank in this regard later. The panel will also share its findings with the Bangladesh government and other co-financiers of the project.
The other members of the panel are Timothy Tong, former commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Peoples Republic of China; and Richard Alderman, former director of the UK Serious Fraud Office.
The WB had announced the appointment of the panel on October 5.
Bangladesh will get the World Bank's financing for the Padma bridge project if the global lender's external panel finds satisfactory the country's handling of corruption allegations over the project.
The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the Padma bridge project in June, saying it had proof of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and private individuals.
On September 20, it declared its decision to engage anew in the project 'upon satisfactory implementation of the agreed measures by the Bangladesh government, and with the support of the bank's governing bodies'.
The WB also clearly hinted that it would not tolerate any corrupt practices in the nearly $3 billion project.