WASHINGTON, March 21, 2016—With the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding announced today, the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency and the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) further advanced their continued cooperation in preventing and investigating fraud and corruption harming development outcomes.
“We have made significant strides in mitigating fraud and corruption risks over the past seven years,” said Leonard Frank McCarthy, World Bank Integrity Vice President. “With this MoU, we hope we can build on our shared experience in detecting red flags and providing opportunities to further develop our risk-prevention toolkit and capacity to manage integrity concerns sooner rather than later, while ensuring project momentum is not disrupted.”
The MoU builds on the ongoing cooperation between the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency and the UNOIOS and promises several opportunities to engage in joint activities and information exchange to prevent, detect and substantiate misconduct impacting World Bank and UN-financed projects and activities.
“We don’t have to wait for complaints to do our work. Our focus is on creating synergies, sharing information and raising awareness to ensure that proactive risk management is part of integrated project planning," said Heidi Mendoza Undersecretary General of the UN OIOS.
The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of a Working Group Meeting hosted by the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency where representatives of Integrity offices of bilateral agencies met to discuss opportunities for cooperation and means to enhance the effectiveness of their anticorruption efforts.
