|
|
Change Your Life! |
Transparency International asked WB to fight corruption |
|
News
|
|
|
September 1, 2000
Dhaka (UNB) – World’s leading anti-corruption organization, Transparency International (TI) has suggested the World Bank to strengthen its campaign against global corruption. The TI, which is going to publish its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on September 13 next, proposed a 10-point agenda for the World Bank to combat menacing corruption. Its suggestions include giving corruption related initiatives more priority in broad-based reform efforts like poverty reduction strategies and extend them beyond World Bank financed loans. “The Bank can play a critical role in countering the global menace of corruption and we believe its work will be improved if it adopts the 10-point programme,” said Dr Peter Eigen, the TI chairman. He said the World Bank could still do far more to assist the developing countries to curb rampant corruption that undermined their progress. “Our 10-point agenda advocates broadening anti-corruption approaches in World Bank programmes, enhancing efforts by the bank to partner with other organisations,” Dr Eigen said, according to a press release of the TI yesterday (Thursday). The TI chairman said it would also help review the bank’s lending programmes to countries that are not pursuing anti-corruption strategies, creating new anti-bribery tools and other vital initiatives. The TI suggest accepting civil society and other social organisations in advocacy work and rebuilding corrupted institutions and actively share the anti-corruption works with them. It requested the World Bank to reconsider lending levels for countries not having in place convincing anti-corruption reform programmes and which do not collaborate with external efforts to promote such programmes. Require, if corruption is suspected, “Service Delivery Surveys” determining whether public services actually reach the intended beneficiaries, before additional loans are considered, the TI said. Suggesting to aggressively promote and finance civil service reform, it said: “In many countries many civil servants do not even receive a living wage; that creates pressures on them to accept bribes.” The TI also proposed to establish a new vehicle for corruption reduction - Integrity Enhancement Programme - to effectively reinforce the anti-corruption efforts of other donors and particularly of relevant non-governmental organisations. It recommended introduction of a consolidated blacklist of those debarred from further aid-financed business for offering or providing bribes in connection with work financed by the World Bank, regional development banks and other aid agencies. “Devote a larger portion of the World Bank’s research budget to corruption reduction, focusing particularly on exploring new approaches to reduce corruption,” said the TI. It also suggested to promote major campaigns by the International Finance Corporations (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector affiliate, to strengthen business awareness that bringing foreign public officials is now a criminal offence in most exporting countries. |