New Delhi, April 3, 2006: The World Bank strongly believes that corruption and leakages are a major development issue for they undermine the intended outcomes for which public money is spent. The Government of India shares this concern.
The World Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity has been conducting an investigation into allegations of possible fraud and corruption in the procurement of pharmaceuticals as part of the Bank-supported Reproductive and Child Health Program I (RCH I). While we cannot comment on the investigation because it is still ongoing, we have shared our findings so far with the Government of India.
To allow more time for discussion between the Bank and the Government of India on the most effective ways to address these issues moving forward, we have postponed consideration of a second RCH program and two other health sector loans by the Board of the Bank. These are the Second National Tuberculosis Control Project and the Karnataka Health Systems Project.
Three other health sector loans – HIV/AIDS III, Vector Borne Disease Control Project and West Bengal Health Systems – are still under preparation and have yet to reach a decision-making stage.
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RSS