World Bank support: Funds would be asked to be reimbursed if misused — Robert O’Brien

World Bank’s country director in Ghana, Mr Robert Taliercio O’Brien have shared a word of caution to country’s who intend to misuse the funds allocated to them by the World Bank.

Mr Robert O’Brien in an interview with Joynews channel, a media outlet in Ghana, stated the significance of countries restricting themselves to the purpose for which the funds allocated to them by the World Bank.

According to the country director of World Bank in Ghana, the misappropriation of funds by countries would only invite the organization to enforce the law, which clearly indicates that, the funds would be refunded to the bank.

“If we find that there is a misuse of funds, we will ask for the funds to be reimbursed to us,” he said.

To that effect, Mr O’Brien further indicated that, in situations where a country misuse the funds provided to them by the Bank, the central government of the country would be requested to refund the money.

“That is an issue for government to work through.” He added that, “We take this extremely seriously.”

Meanwhile, he provided details when asked regarding the consequences of the misappropriation of monies, “We don’t sanction governments but we do sanction private firms.If we find a firm engaging in corruption, we will sanction them.”

Mr Robert O’Brien shed lights on the rate at which corruption is endangering the economies of several countries and what has to be done in order to fight it.

“Even in my own country, there are instances of corruption, we are focusing on how to strengthen the system,” he iterated.