The top World Bank official in Cambodia defended himself on Wednesday against accusations of corruption in connection with the military’s demobilization program, claiming his critics have a vendetta against him.
The accusations against World Bank Country Representative Bonaventure Mbida-Essama come from Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay, who alleged on Sunday that the World Bank head knowingly ignored claims that the country’s massive and highly controversial demobilization program is fraught with problems.
“Bonaventure [Mbida-Essama] ignored the reality of the project,” Son Chhay said. “If you ignore the loan requirements of the demobilization project and refuse to investigate claims of corruption and failure in the project, what does that say about the World Bank representative?”
Son Chhay’s comments come after the lawmaker alleged in early October that the government’s lists of soldiers to be demobilized contains “ghost soldiers” who do not exist or who are deceased.
According to Son Chhay, he received a list from the Cambodia Veterans Assistance Project with the names of soldiers in Siem Reap province slated to be transferred to civilian life, but could find less than 5 percent of those soldiers.
With $42 million in international aid earmarked for the transfer of some 30,000 soldiers to civilian life, and with all the soldiers not accounted for, the government—and the World Bank—could use the aid money for personal enrichment, Son Chhay said.
“Bonaventure knew about the problem and went along with it,” Son Chhay said, adding that the World Bank official approved the program without investigating the allegations of corruption.
Although the World Bank’s monetary contribution for demobilization accounts for only $18.2 million, the World Bank provides technical assistance to the government.
Mbida-Essama disputed the allegations on Wednesday, saying that opposition party parliamentarians had been complaining about demobilization for two years, and he had responded to their accusations on numerous times.
“They have an ax to grind,” he said. “They cannot understand the reports.”
Mbida-Essama declined to comment further on the issue and directed all inquiries to Gillian Brown, a World Bank official based in Bangkok. Brown did not respond to e-mail inquiries sent earlier this week.
Although Mbida-Essama would not comment directly on the accusations, a report issued on the World Bank Web site stated that a database of soldiers created in 1999 to identify valid soldiers could contain ghost soldiers.
“There is a growing body of evidence, including the findings of several field visits by Bank missions, that suggests that despite the efforts, some of those on the database have never served in the armed forces or received salaries from the military, and others have served in the armed forces but do not receive their whole salaries,” the report states. The report also stated that through field investigations, only “a small percentage of those demobilized were either civilians before demobilization, or could not be traced.”
Son Chhay criticized the report, calling it an attempt to address a problem that was already publicized by his own investigation.
“I am very disappointed—the report should have come out before my findings,” Son Chhay said. “Now they release the report because they can no longer hide.”
The demobilization project has faced numerous setbacks in the past two years. The government was originally set to transfer some 15,000 soldiers to civilian life by the end of 2001 and another by 15,000 by the end of 2002, but could not complete the task.
The demobilization program includes providing the former soldiers with $240 in cash, as well as materials to start a new life such as motorcycles, house-building material or sewing machines. Very few soldiers, however, have received the full benefit packages.
