WASHINGTON, June 13, 2013— The World Bank Group today announced the debarment of GHD Pty Ltd. (Australia), GHD Indonesian Operating Center and PT Global Hutama Desain (PT GHD) for a period of one year following the World Bank Sanction Board’s decision in relation to fraudulent practices in a Bank-financed infrastructure project in Indonesia.
The debarment is based on an investigation by the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency which revealed evidence of the company’s fraudulent misconduct impacting a management consultancy contract. The one-year debarment came into effect on June 10, 2013. As a result GHD Pty Limited will not qualify for any contract financed by the World Bank Group.
"There is no excuse for international companies not to ensure they have a code of ethics and integrity that can govern their involvement in projects benefitting the poor,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Integrity Vice President. “Meeting the provisions of the World Bank's compliance standards is a prerequisite to doing development business with the Bank. This case demonstrates that our commitment to detecting and investigating fraud in Bank-financed projects remains a top priority to ensure development funds reach their intended beneficiaries.”
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About the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency
The World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) is responsible for preventing, deterring and investigating allegations of fraud, collusion and corruption in World Bank projects, capitalizing on the experience of a multilingual and highly specialized team of investigators and forensic accountants.
Key results of INT’s work in FY12-13 include:
- 72 entities sanctioned in FY 13 including settlements where companies are debarred as a default sanction in addition to committing to cooperation with the Integrity Vice Presidency. These include the Canadian company SNC Lavalin and more than 100 of its affiliates and the Indian company Larsen and Toubro Limited among others.
- 252 jointly recognized debarments among MDBs that signed the Cross Debarment agreement
- Building precautions against fraud and corruption in high-risk projects
- The World Bank introduced its new App to report fraud and corruption allegations relating to its projects. The new App also complements other tools and information resources to support the detection of fraud and corruption red flags. The World Bank Integrity App is available for the IOS platform through the iTunes store
- Following Alstom’s acknowledgment of misconduct in relation to a Bank-financed hydropower project in Zambia, the World Bank debarred Alstom Hydro France and Alstom Network Schweiz AG (Switzerland) - in addition to their affiliates - for a period of three years as part of a Negotiated Resolution Agreement between Alstom and the World Bank which also includes a restitution payment by the two companies totaling approximately $9.5 million.
- The second meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance brought together 175 senior enforcement and anticorruption officials from 6 regions, to inject momentum into global anti-corruption efforts.
- Cooperation agreements in support of parallel investigations, asset recovery and information sharing with the UK Serious Fraud Office, the European Anti-Fraud Office, Interpol, the Korean Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the Ethiopian Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission and several other national and international authorities.
- Enhanced preventive training and forensic audits designed to identify and address red flags and integrity controls in World Bank-financed projects.
