(July 23, 2004)Canadian-based foreign aid watchdog Probe International welcomed the World Bank’s decision today to blacklist Canadian engineering company Acres International from receiving World Bank contracts for the next three years and predicts the Bank’s blacklisting of Acres will lead to more debarments of other companies convicted in the Lesotho corruption trials.
Patricia Adams
Patricia Adams is an economist and the Executive Director of Probe International, an independent think-tank and watchdog over the environmental consequences of Canadian government and corporate activities around the world. Her books include In the Name of Progress: The Underside of Foreign Aid, (Doubleday 1985), and Odious Debts: Loose Lending, Corruption and the Third World”s Environmental Legacy (Earthscan 1991), which exposes the jeopardy of years of loose lending for both the Third World’s environment and their economies, and proposes a legal remedy to place responsibility for the Third World’s debt crisis on the parties involved, instead of on First and Third World taxpayers. Pat also edited the English language translation of Yangtze! Yangtze!, the extraordinary critique by Chinese experts of the Three Gorges dam that inspired the democracy movement when it was first published in 1989, led to the postponement of the dam, and was subsequently banned by Chinese authorities. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia.
Combating corruption in multilateral development banks: Statement by Patricia Adams to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
(May 25, 2004) Patricia Adams’ statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations regarding its investigation of corruption in multilateral development bank (MDB) projects.
Human rights abuses and the Three Gorges dam
(March 19, 2004) Dai Qing, eminent Beijing-based journalist and veteran campaigner against the Three Gorges dam, discusses the suppression of opposition to the project in a recent talk at the University of Toronto in Canada.
Africa is not in flames
(November 17, 2003) While Bono’s oratory may be splendid, his analysis sells Africa short . . . As Africans know too well, the more that their governments have received foreign aid, the more poverty has grown.
Cancel Iraq’s odious debts first, donors conference told
(October 22, 2003) Debt relief groups have urged Iraq’s debtors to adhere to a 100-year-old legal principle to resolve Iraq’s debt crisis and assist reconstruction efforts when they meet tomorrow in Madrid.
Iraq’s odious debts
(February 12, 2003) Russia and France have good reason to oppose a war with Iraq: They stand to lose more from Saddam Hussein’s ouster than any other countries in the world.
Canadian multinational fined US$2.25 million for bribing African official
(October 28, 2002) Lesotho High Court has fined Acres International US$2.25 million (22,580,091 maloti) for bribing the former head of a multibillion-dollar dam project to secure contracts.
PRESS RELEASE Mekong hydro consultants convicted of bribery in Africa
(September 18, 2002) A major Canadian engineering firm that has worked on hydro projects and resettlement planning in Asia’s six-country Mekong region has been convicted by the Lesotho High Court on two counts of bribery.
Canadian engineering multinational convicted of bribery in Africa
(September 17, 2002 ) In a landmark decision that has sweeping implications for Third World development, engineering multinational Acres International has been convicted in Lesotho of bribing a foreign official to secure contracts on a multibillion dollar dam scheme.
The Canadian challenge
(July 19, 2002) Acres International responds to Probe International’s June 27, article, "The Canadian connection." Acres’ says its case highlights the risks Canadian companies face in developing countries, and the need to ensure they receive due process.
The Canadian connection
(June 27, 2002) A corruption trial in Lesotho should be forcing Canadian agencies to re-examine their relationships with firms that engage in bribery. Instead, the indifference it is being greeted with indicates little has changed.
The Doctrine of Odious Debts: Using the Law to Cancel Illegitimate Debts
(June 21, 2002) Patricia Adams’ speech from her 12-city speaking tour of Germany in June 2002, at the invitation of the German Jubilee Network.
Migrant leaders languish in jail, one year on
(March 12, 2002) Four men detained for attempting to petition authorities in Beijing about corruption in the Three Gorges resettlement operation remain in prison, one year after their arrest.
Hon. Senator Oliver moves an amendment to Bill C-31
(November 29, 2001) Export Development Act – Third Reading in the Senate Bill to Amend introduced Motion in Amendment – Vote Deferred until December 4, 2001.
Statement by Ms. Adams on Bill C-31 to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
(November 21, 2001) Bill C-31 will allow EDC to write the rules, establish the criteria, define the terms, assess itself, and then decide whether or not it is justified in supporting a project that will destroy the environment.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
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