FC: World Bank accused of spending poverty cash on $100M+ web site

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Thanks to Jeffrey St. Clair of counterpunch.org fame for sending this 
along. --Declan]


http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=3235

World Bank Accused of Fraud in Internet Scheme
By Abid Aslam

WASHINGTON, Jul 18 (IPS) - The World Bank has misused funds
and is seeking to mislead public opinion through its
'Development Gateway' Internet initiative, according to
charges submitted Wednesday to the lending agency's fraud
unit.

The complaint alleges "misuse of Bank funds and positions,
gross waste of Bank funds, cost mischarging or defective
pricing and perhaps even fraud and misleading of public
opinion."

[...]

At issue is a Bank effort to build the Internet's premier
portal on poverty and sustainable development. The
Development Gateway has been in the making for nearly two
years, at a reported cost of some seven million dollars.
Officials say the site will grow to encompass more than 130
topics and serve as the leading entry point on the World
Wide Web for people interested in development issues.

[...]

By contrast, they say, the Development Gateway's business
plan projects more than one hundred million dollars in
spending over the next five years, in hopes of attracting
only five times the Uruguayan site's number of visits.

[...]




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