The World Bank (WB) has alleged corruption and mis-procurement in nine projects in Bangladesh and decided to take back nearly US$3.0 million funds it has already disbursed against these projects, officials said Wednesday.
The Bank has asked the government to return the funds by June 30 this year, they said.
The WB has recently written to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) about the mis-procurement and corruption involving its funds in the projects.
The ERD, after receiving the WB letter, sat with the relevant other government agencies recently and asked them to give details of the mis-procurement that the Bank has referred to.
On receipt of the details the ERD would convey the real picture of the procurement to the WB, a senior government official involved in the procurement process of a project told the FE.
He said: "We have made some silly mistakes in the process of bidder selection. I don't think that the WB will withdraw money from our projects for such mistakes."
Meanwhile, the WB has asked the government to return its US$109,741 funds made available for procurement in seven projects under the National Agricultural Technology Project of the Agriculture Ministry.
It has also sought return of $10,401 from the Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest (EGPP) of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry for its two procurements, $28,166 from the Reaching Out-of-School Children Project-II (ROSC) of the Primary and Mass Education Ministry for its three tenders, $19,537 for two mis-procurements for the Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection in Asia project under the Environment Ministry and $9,367 for two procurements under the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment project of the Environment Ministry.
The Bank has also sought return of funds for mis- procurement in four projects including Second Rural Transport Improvement Project, Bangladesh Disability and Children and Risk project, Bangladesh Skills and Training Enhancement project and Bangladesh Higher Education Quality Enhancement project.
The Bank in its allegations said it has found different types of malpractices in procurement process including collusion among bidders, fake bank guarantees submitted by them, and violation of the procurement guidelines.
"We will try to convince the World Bank not to withdraw the funds for small packages of the procurement due to a silly mistake. But the Bank may not be convinced if there are collusion and serious violation of the procurement rules by the government agencies," said an ERD official.
Earlier, the WB cancelled or withdrew funds from some other projects in the past for mis-procurement, corruption or several other loopholes in the project implementation process.
The WB is the largest development partner of Bangladesh providing nearly $700 million in loans and grants a year under different development projects and programmes.
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WB decides to take back $3m funds disbursed against nine projects
FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: April 09, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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