I have accused
the World Bank of driving a corrupt agenda in Armenia since the turn of the
century, and for more than a year I have been pressing their watchdog body, the
Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), to carry out an investigation into
the affair. In March 2007, the Government Accountability Project (GAP), my
legal counsel and Washington’s most prominent human rights and freedom of speech
organization, submitted my claim to the INT. During the period of my claim, GAP
was central in the ousting of the Bank’s former President Paul Wolfowitz for
his shady dealings, and later of INT’s Director Suzanne Folsom for her incompetence.
For six
months GAP, the British Ambassador in Armenia, the UK’s Foreign &
Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and the British
Embassy in Washington, all contacted INT’s Director to find out how the
investigation was proceeding. But INT did not respond to any of the enquiries
and did not provide information on whether or when it would carry out an
investigation.
In July
2007, I launched my ‘Blowing the World Bank Whistle’
blog, and through the next months, I published and distributed the details of
the twelve claims of bribery, fraud, corruption and embezzlement associated
with the Bank financed Municipal Development Project, intended for improving
the Yerevan water utility. More than forty articles have been posted on the blog,
detailing the claims and accusing the Bank’s Armenia Country Manager of
collusion in the affair which involved tens of millions of dollars. And more than
a dozen newspaper articles have covered the action, in Armenia and in the UK.
Today, it
is fifteen months since my claim was submitted to INT, and although for a year I
have been openly accusing the Bank of driving a rampantly corrupt agenda in
Armenia, which I claim has been pursued in preparation for resolution of the
Karabakh conflict, and which has undoubtedly been one of the fundamental reasons
for today’s crisis in Armenia, it is amazing that neither the Bank nor it’s INT
has made any effort to defend the Bank’s position, or to discredit my claim.
The reason is of course that the Bank can not defend its position; its programs
in Armenia have been comprehensively corrupt, and the Bank’s irresponsibility
has caused the dramatic escalation of corruption in Armenia since the turn of
the century.
But, if the
tables were turned, and the Bank, or any other party for that matter, was to
accuse me of being involved in any wrongdoing, even if it was a fraction of the
wrongdoing of which I accuse the Bank, I would certainly demand to defend my innocence
and insist that the Bank apologize for attempting to harm my reputation.
Apparently,
in March 2008 the INT started to carry out an investigation into my claim. But it
is doubtful that the results will ever be released, and it is doubtful that
Roger Robinson will ever be brought to account for the major disservice he has
done the people of Armenia throughout the seven years he was World Bank Armenia
Country Manager.
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It is very interesting to
Vanasb 1 year 37 weeks ago
It is very interesting to see how this story will unfold in the future. However allegations of WB running corrupt projects in the Near East is something of "business-as-usual" for those who have followed the projects of the WB since the early 90's up to today in the region. However it is more than important that your unfolding of the corrupt practices far from being politically impartial and neutral as to the parties involved in the scandal, is turning into some form of negative propaganda to discredit the current ruling political elite in Armenia.
Regardless of whether I agree or disagree with the current ruling elite, I find your entire intent and motive to be politically motivated and nonobjective, even if its wrapped up in an aura of professionalism.
To my mind the corrupt practices of the WB and other International Organizations even if confirmed do more harm and hardly any benefit to the people of Armenia, since such allegations repel International Aid from the country much needed by many communities in Armenia living on the verge of poverty. While such practices of "whistle blowing" nearly never reach their original intended purpose of bringing the wrongdoers to justice and accountability.
Far from being a personal attack, this is an invitation to you to bring forth the precise institutional mechanism and structures that enables such corrupt practices to ensue in the first place and possible means to restructure and engineer any future programs in a way that impedes the possibility of such corrupt practices, that according to the information you supply seem to have carried out in broad daylight.
Thank you for your attention.
Vanasb, Your
Bruce Tasker 1 year 37 weeks ago
Vanasb,
Your “business-as-usual” point is of course correct, not only in the Near East, but all around the World, from Southern American countries in the 80’s and 90’s, to India and other eastern countries today, and inevitably with the same disastrous results as in Armenia.
I am as interested as anybody to see how this story will unfold in the future, and from my part, the objective is to make sure that as many Armenians as possible know that there is a very serious effort going on in Washington to have this affair investigated.
With respect to the point you make about "restructuring and engineering any future programs in a way that impedes the possibility of such corrupt practices". That is a priority objective of my campaign, to try and encourage the WB (and the IMF) to operate more responsibly in Armenia in the future. I think after all the pressure we have been applying for the past year and a half, we might to some extent be getting there?
And you are right; the campaign is turning into “some form of negative propaganda to discredit the current ruling political elite in Armenia”. That was not the initial intention, but toward the end of 2007, when we (together with GAP) found the Bank and its INT were doing all they could to not carry out the investigation, I (without GAP) ventured into the political aspects of the problem. In 2004, I spent a year with “the current ruling political elite in Armenia”, investigating their corruption (known as the ‘quagmire’ or ‘ballota’) for the Parliamentary Commission. I was amazed to see the lengths to which they go (together with the WB and the IMF) to in one way or another take money from the people and use it to satisfy their own greed. Together with the WB and the IMF, the ruling political elite in Armenia have been driving Armenia toward the crisis we are now witnessing, but which is only now starting to unfold. You no doubt have read my thoughts on where they are leading Armenia? The situation for the lesser-privileged Armenian people is destined to get very much worse.
You are also right that “whistleblowing” nearly never brings the wrongdoers to justice and accountability, and I might add, is done at great cost to the whistleblower. But I will do all I can to make sure the people of Armenia are aware that Roger Robinson (WB), Jimmy McHugh (IMF), Richard Walkling (A. Utilities) and Alan Kuchukian (KPMG – retired) have been driving corruption in Armenia for many years, together with their Armenian state associates. And not one of them has made any effort to counter the claims I have been making for the past 18 months- they simply hide behind their respective institutions.
Vanasb - You have made all the right observations and ask the right questions, and that encourages me to see that my work is at least being discussed. I thank khosq for giving me the opportunity to do that and I hope that many more objective thinkers such as you will start to use khosq in this way.
Vigen Sarkissian, the World
Bruce Tasker 1 year 36 weeks ago
Vigen Sarkissian, the World Bank’s press officer has spoken to the Armenian press http://www.hraparak.am/hodvac.php?h_id=478 about my claim, and Hraparak wrote its report on the 27th June. According to Sarkissian, the Bank has heard nothing from me since October 2007, and as far as he understood it, I have been ‘paid off’ and I left the Republic.
Sarkissian of course knows that to be a pack of lies; I have been in regular contact with the Bank since October and to this very day. On the 19th November, together with GAP’s Director of International Programs, I met with Mr. Varoudakis at the WB office in Yerevan. In November and December, Armenia’s 168 Hours newspaper published six articles on my action, and at the end of December the Armenia Times newspaper published a lengthy article.
On the 15th February 2008, GAP submitted a petition to Robert Zoellick, the World Bank President, asking for his intervention. Throughout January, February and March, I published eleven articles on my ‘Blowing the World Bank Whistle’ blog, all of which I sent to Mr. Varoudakis at the Bank, with whom I have been in regular communication since October 2007. On the 25th March this year, I met with a team of INT investigators, who had come to Yerevan to investigate my claim.
By the end of May, the INT had not provided information on how its investigation was proceeding; so on the 4th June, GAP submitted a full report on my claim to the U.S. Congress. And together with GAP, we continue to press for a final resolution from the Bank and the INT with regard to my claim. Today, I continue to publicize this action through the khosq community web, and I am pleased to see that it appears to have attracted considerable interest.
The Bank’s Vigen Sarkissian is undoubtedly aware of all these facts, and if he is not, then he is absolutely incompetent. It is more likely however that he is fully informed, and the information he has given to the Armenian press was simply yet another attempt on his behalf to discredit my name and the effort to have this matter fully investigated. In either event, Sarkissian is a liability the World Bank can not afford and he should be dismissed from the Bank immediately.