Working with China-led bank on graft will be a 'leap of faith', World Bank official says

A top anti-corruption official from the World Bank says it will take "a leap of faith" for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to be accepted into the integrity control and management regime led by his organisation.

The comments by Stephen Zimmermann, who is in town to speak at an international symposium organised by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, come amid concerns about transparency and governance standards in the nascent AIIB voiced by sceptics, notably the United States and Japan.

A cross-debarment regime - which accepts rulings of member banks on errant financial institutions - was set up in 2010 between the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"If any one of those banks debars a company for fraud or corruption, the others automatically recognise that debarment," said Zimmermann, who is director of operations for the World Bank's Integrity Vice-Presidency.

The bank boss heads a multi-disciplinary team of 100 lawyers, investigators, forensic accountants and others in the integrity oversight of the projects the World Bank finances.

The five banks are members of a close-knit network which harmonises their anti-corruption policies. The network also includes the European Investment Bank, though it has not joined the cross-debarment regime.

Asked what the chances were of AIIB being part of the network, Zimmermann said: "I surely hope so. But we have a very high bar to join because we need to have a lot of faith and confidence in each other's anti-corruption system. It's a leap of faith.