>The Indian government has promised to take "exemplary" action >against those found guilty, it added.
**** That is reassuring! cm NEW DELHI: World Bank has discovered serious cases of fraud and corruption in the five health sector projects dealing with eradication of tuberculosis and malaria and HIV/AIDS control schemes. The probe into the five health projects has revealed unacceptable indicators of fraud and corruption, World Bank President Robert B Zoellick said in the statement. These projects include USD 114 million Malaria Control Project, USD 82.1 million Orissa Health Systems Development Project, USD 54 million Food and Drug Capacity Building Project, USD 193.7 million Second National HIV/AIDS Control Project USD and 124.8 million Tuberculosis Control Project, it added. The Indian government has promised to take "exemplary" action against those found guilty, it added. The cases of frauds and corruption were discovered during the Detailed Implementation Review (DIR), which was launched by the bank in 2006, with support from Indian government. The five projects were implemented between 1997 and 2003 with assistance from the Bank and other donors. Four of these projects have already been completed, while the fifth USD 54-million Food and Drug Capacity Building Project is ongoing, but the funds have not been disbursed for it yet. This project will now be reviewed to incorporate the findings of the DIR, the World Bank statement said. In an investigation in 2005, the World Bank had found cases of corruption in Reproductive and Child Health project, prompting the multi-lateral agency to withhold aid for the project for sometime. Subsequent to the probe, two pharma companies were also debarred by the Bank. The current DIR was prompted by that investigation, the World Bank said. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
