(March 19, 2004) If Acres is debarred, it will send a powerful signal to the world’s big construction companies, which rely heavily on the World Bank and other international financial institutions for support.
Mbeki hails Lesotho for corruption stand
(March 18, 2004) Foreign companies were the prime movers in the corruption of Lesotho officials in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, President Mbeki said this week.
The key word is failure, Ms. Kelly
(March 17, 2004) This week has seen the opening of a £5 billion multinational dam project in tiny Lesotho, in southern Africa, that has already become more famous for exposing bribery than delivering water.
World Bank financing Nam Theun 2
(February 18, 2004) World Bank financing for Nam Theun 2 clearly contradicts the Bank’s energy policy advice dispensed to Thailand and other developing countries over the past decade.
Divisive dam likely to go ahead
(February 8, 2004) Mired in controversy for a decade, the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project is likely to get the green light from the World Bank after its executive directors from Washington visit the dam site in Laos this weekend for their final appraisal of the plant.
Nam Theun 2 dam – Fighting corruption World Bank style
(February 1, 2004) Last year, presumably in an attempt to clean up its tarnished image, the World Bank produced a glossy brochure: “10 things you never knew about the World Bank”.
US Probe Releases Kaijuka Case Files
(December 30, 2003) The US Justice Department has released files of the Bujagali bribery investigation.
World Bank inflated costs of Karuma hydropower
(December 16, 2003) Canadian consulting firm Acres International prepared a secret report the World Bank relied on to select which Ugandan hydro project (Karuma/Bujagali) to bankroll.
Canada: “Export Agency must stiffen bribery sanctions,” report
(December 16, 2003) The Canadian agency that underwrites large-scale export projects must adopt tougher rules against bribery by client companies, says a report by a trade union anti-corruption group.
Spie Batignolles next in line for Lesotho prosecution
(November 25, 2003) The prosecution of multinational companies on charges of corruption relating to the Lesotho Highlands Water Project is quietly continuing.
Trade, aid and jobs
It does not matter to [Fortis] that [their hydro dam in the Mayan mountains] will not work,
because they have a 50-year monopoly to take their 35% plus interest repayment.
Groups fear Canadian funding for Romanian mine
(November 16, 2003) The World Bank’s refusal to help fund a Canadian company’s controversial development of a huge open pit gold mine in Romania has raised concerns the Canadian government will step in with money.
Thai utility signs electricity deal with Laos dam project.
(November 8, 2003) Thailand’s electricity authority signed an agreement committing itself to buying five billion dollars worth of electricity from the much controversial Nam Theun II hydro-electric power project in Laos.
Government to probe corrupt MPs
(November 6, 2003) The Guardian newspaper in London reported recently that a UK-based lobbying firm is under investigation over the Bujagali dam project.
Corruption goes unpunished
(November 5, 2003) A Canadian public lending agency that lobbied in defence of Acres International, the first multinational to be convicted in the landmark corruption trials currently underway in the southern African state of Lesotho, has said it will not bar the Canadian engineering giant from future contracts.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
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Lawrence Solomon
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