ADB punishes individuals, firms in fraud investigation

The Asian Development Bank has imposed sanctions on 30 people and 31 firms for "integrity violations" following graft-related investigations into projects it funded, the lender said.
The ADB investigated a record 250 allegations of corruption, collusion, coercion and fraud last year, 10 more than in 2012, the bank said in a report published yesterday.
"Fraud related to work experience, qualifications, and technical and financial capacities of consulting firms or consultants continues to be the most common type of integrity violation reported," the ADB's Office of Anticorruption and Integrity chief Clare Wee said in a statement.
The Manila-based ADB did not disclose the names and nationalities of the companies and individuals punished.

However, ADB sources, who asked not to be named, said companies receiving sanctions would be "blacklisted" and barred from taking part in ADB projects for between three and 10 years.
Sanctions can be imposed on individuals "indefinitely" depending on the circumstances, the sources added.

The ADB sources said that the bank is also part of a "cross debarment" agreement with other multilateral institutions including the World Bank that enforced each other's sanctions.
The report said 525 entities had been subjected to this type of sanction by the ADB, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank since 2010.

Meanwhile, the bank's anti-corruption unit said it had also reviewed various ADB-funded projects last year as part of its mandate to safeguard project funds, including in China, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Nepal and Laos.
These reviews help stakeholders "to deliver successful projects, by assessing internal controls and spotting procurement irregularities and non-compliance", an ADB spokeswoman told AFP.
The ADB lent USD 9.4 billion in 2012, according to the latest data released by the bank.