WORLD BANK DOES NOT HAVE EVIDENCES OF DECEPTION
A1+
[04:16 pm] 04 October, 2007
"The World Bank does not have evidences of deception or inadequate
management on the Yerevan water supply program", announced Aristomene
Varoudakis, Head of the Yerevan Office of the World Bank reflecting
on the British engineer’s accusations.
The World Bank allocated 35 million drams for the improvement
of Yerevan water supply, but according to the British "Observer"
newspaper "it had shifted to installing water meters instead and
contractors were able to pocket up to $10 profit on the sale of each
meter by charging customers for installation".
"Bruce Tasker, is a British engineer appointed by an Armenian
parliamentary commission investigating the Yerevan scheme. He claims
that as soon as he began to examine the details of the project,
it became clear that it was riddled with corruption, "from start to
finish, from top to bottom. The fact is it was not an isolated case
of a few thousand dollars here or there, it was tens of millions
of dollars"."
The mentioned ad-hoc commission started to work at the end of 2003
and in the beginning of 2004 headed by Vahan Hovhanissyan. Why does
Tasker raise the problem of corruption only now?
"We have no definite answer as why this problem has emerged
again, since this story was concluded for us", said Aristomene
Varoudakis. According to him, Tasker has turned to the World Bank’s
Institutional Integrity Department. "It is completely an independent
judicial body, and is responsible only to the Chairman of the World
Bank and has nothing in common with other project departments and
sectors. We do not know whether this investigation is underway or not,
since the investigation will begin after receiving appeal and coming
out of the financial resources".
As the British newspaper says, the British Ambassador in Armenia
has written to the World Bank, urging it to carry out a full
investigation. Mr Varoudakis pointed out that the Ambassador’s
letter was addressed not to the World Bank Office but to this
department asking to respond to "the alleged accusations that were
reflected in Mr Tasker’s letter". Mr Varoudakis mentioned that the
water meters were not the objective of the program, but were its
consistent part. "Only due to them we managed to raise the 18 percent
of recruitment to 79 percent. The water supply would never be in an
appropriate condition in Armenia if the recruitment percent was not
raised. Only 1,3 percent of the program’s 35 million USD was allocated
to that", added Mr Varoudakis.
The press secretary of the British Embassy in Armenia Armine Grigoryan
informed "A1+" that according to the UK Bribery and Corruption Law
all British embassies in the world are obliged to account the British
government about the corruption cases, just as the British Embassy
in Armenia has done".
"In its letter to the World Bank, the British Embassy in Armenia
expressed hope that the investigation of Bank’s Institutional Integrity
Department will be carried out properly. The Embassy did not urge
or order the Bank to carry out the investigation. We do not want
and we cannot carry out an investigation or order it", pointed out
Armine Grigoryan.
We should mention that the British Ambassador Anthony Cantor sent
the letter on 29 May and as Armine Grigoryan ensures: "The Ambassador
does not expect any respond to his letter. But we are aware that the
World Bank is engaged in the settlement of this problem".
The press secretary of "Yerevan Water" Murad Sargsyan informed "A1+":
"I want to remind you that the "Yerevan Water" French organization
started to work on 1 June 2006 and had nothing to do with the previous
program that was financed by the World Bank".
Previously, "Yerevan Water" was headed by the Italian "Utility"
Company.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
