World Bank

Letter to World Bank President Concerning Corruption in Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Friday, November 5, 1999
James Wolfensohn President, World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20433 U.S.A. File Reference: HE/DB/ Contact Name: David Boys Tel: 011 334 50 40 11 65 Dear Mr. Wolfensohn, The World Bank has repeatedly said in recent years that it is determined to combat corruption. You yourself made a speech at the IACC in Durban last month in which you said that corruption is at the heart of the problem of world poverty. Your speech, like many others, focused on the problem of corrupt officials and politicians receiving bribes. But someone pays every bribe – and as the OECD a

Bribery Taints World Bank–Funded Lesotho Water Project

Sunday, August 1, 1999
A dozen major international dam–building companies involved in the World Bank–funded Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) have lavishly bribed at least one top official on the project, allegedly giving nearly US$2 million in bribes over ten years, reports the South African newspaper Business Day. The information was revealed as part of a court case for the bribed official. Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director of International Rivers Network, says: "Bribery has long distorted the decision–making process on large dams. The international dam industry should be held accou

Letter to the World Bank, Re: Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Wednesday, April 28, 1999
Mr. Jean–Louis Sarbib Vice President Africa Region The World Bank 1818 H St., NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Re: Lesotho Highlands Water Project Dear Mr. Sarbib, We wish to call your attention to some of the most important unresolved issues regarding the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). You will recall that we raised similar concerns in our letter to you last November, but unfortunately many of these issues remain unresolved. The most critical is the still urgent matter related to the compensation of project–affected people who lost access to communal grazing lands, whi

World Bank Debars Acres International Limited (Acres)

Wednesday, June 23, 2004
World Bank Finally Debars Company Convicted of Bribing in Lesotho The World Bank at long last has debarred a company convicted of corruption on Africa’s largest dam project, nearly two years after a guilty sentence was handed down in a Lesotho court. On July 23, the World Bank announced that it would debar from further Bank contracts the Canadian firm Acres International for 3 years. The company had been convicted of bribing the head of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) in September 2002. The World Bank, which had previously concluded there was not enough evidence to debar Acr

Comments on Management Response to Bujagali Inspection Panel Report

Thursday, June 20, 2002
Some Notes and Recommendations by International Rivers Network, June 20, 2002 The World Bank Board of Directors discussed the first Inspection Panel Report on the Bujagali Hydropower Project in Uganda, and Management’s Response to this report, on June 17, 2002. The Board accepted the Action Plan which Management had put forward. On the same day, the Bank released the Report and the Management Response to the public (see worldbank.org). A review of the Panel Report by International Rivers is also available. At the core of the Management Response is an Action Plan which consis

Review of World Bank Inspection Panel Report on Bujagali Dam

Saturday, June 1, 2002
Download the review (PDF, 42KB) The purpose of this review is to highlight major findings of the 2002 Panel report, and to recommend corrective action which is needed to rectify the problems documented in the report before the project goes forward. 

Striking Lesotho Dam Workers Killed by Police - NGOs Urge World Bank to Take Action

Thursday, September 26, 1996
Five workers were shot dead and some 30 injured when police evicted striking workers from a Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) construction camp in Lesotho on September 14. For at least a week after the killings, up to 1,000 workers remained in a nearby Catholic church where they had sought refuge after the bloody encounter. The World Bank has loaned $110 million for the Katse Dam, the first to be built in the multi–dam water transfer scheme, and is currently considering making loans for a second, Mohale Dam. It also lent $8 million in concessionary loans for project design. The pr

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