The National Taxpayers Union and Government Accountability Project have joined together to sponsor a petition to tell the Treasury Department that is is not acceptable to continue to funnel U.S. taxpayer money to International development banks with woefully inadequate whistleblower protections.
Did you know whistleblowers detected more economic crimes than corporate security, internal audits, fraud risk management and law enforcement combined? This force for responsible accounting and management is desperately needed in corrupt institutions like the World Bank.
Last December, while U.S. taxpayers were doing their holiday shopping, Congress quietly approved more than $35 billion in bailouts to international development banks. These multilateral development banks (MDBs) are immune from national oversight and laws, both here and abroad. They are riddled with corruption and blatantly resist any meaningful internal governance reform. Experts estimate that between $26 –$130 billion have been lost to corruption at the World Bank alone since its founding, to say nothing of the other MDBs.
Tell Tim Geithner and the Treasury Department that enough is enough! According to a federal law that was passed in December, before the U.S. can contribute tens of billions of dollars in cold cash and guarantees to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the African Development Bank, the Treasury Department must report that each institution is making substantial progress toward implementing certain reforms – including best practice whistleblower protections.
The Treasury is responsible for reporting on the progress of these banks in implementing the required reforms - if Treasury does not stand up for taxpayers, the flow of your money will start again. Don't let that happen! Help NTU and the GAP send a message to the Treasury Department, sign our petition and together we can stop the World Bank and Tim Geithner from sending your money to corrupt extra-national bank officials.