US Senate panel probes graft in World Bank projects

The probe was initiated by committee chairman Sen Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, whose panel has oversight responsibility for international financial institutions receiving more than 1 billion in US funding.

The World Bank welcomed the review of its anti-corruption work and said it would cooperate with the Senate panel.

In a letter to World Bank President James Wolfensohn dated April 20, Lugar expressed concern that the bank may have overlooked key issues in a forthcoming report on the Yacyreta Dam project.

8216;8216;Reportedly, the Yacyreta Dam project was budgeted to cost 2 billion when it began in 1973 and now has a debt of 10 billion 8212; and it is still not completed,8217;8217; he said. Lugar said the project could cost another 800 million. 8212; Reuters