**A British publisher is facing a six-year ban from taking up any contracts financed by the World Bank.**The move comes after Macmillan admitted making “bribery payments” to secure a deal to print textbooks in South Sudan, the World Bank said.
International donors have pumped millions into development projects in the African region through a Multi-Donor Trust Fund run by the World Bank.
Macmillan told Reuters news agency it had reached a settlement with the bank.
Co-operation
The World Bank, which lends to developing countries, said the length of the ban could be cut in half if the publisher continued to co-operate with its staff.
In its statement, the bank said the ban had already been reduced from eight years because of the speed with which Macmillan admitted the “corrupt payments”.
It went on: "The World Bank Group has debarred Macmillan Limited… declaring the company ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts for a period of six years in the wake of the company’s admission of bribery payments relating to a trust fund-supported education project in Southern Sudan.
“Macmillan had agreed to roll out a ‘compliance monitoring programme’ and co-operate with the bank’s efforts to fight fraud and corruption.”
A spokesman for Macmillan did not respond to Reuters’ request to talk about the detail of the Sudan bid.
But he said: "We will not tolerate improper behaviour as a company and the fact that we have worked closely with the World Bank to reach this agreement is evidence of that.
“There is no suggestion that these concerns have affected any of Macmillan’s other principal businesses, and it is the case that they are confined to a limited part of our education business.”
The trust fund was set up in 2006 to finance the rebuilding of South Sudan’s economy, government, health and education systems devastated by decades of civil war.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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