AMMAN — A former senior World Bank staff member
allegedly manipulated data to ensure that Saudi Arabia ranked first on the Top
Improvers list of the bank’s Doing Business 2020 report at the expense of
Jordan’s no. 1 spot, according to documents obtained by
Jordan News.اضافة اعلان
In September 2021, a US law
firm completed a report on behalf of the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), investigating data irregularities
pertaining to the Doing Business 2018 and 2020 reports, and improper changes
made to data for Saudi Arabia, among others.
The IBRD the World’s Bank lending arm, and both banks share management staff.
Specifically, the firm was
to investigate improper changes to the data, and “who at the bank directed,
implemented, or knew about the changes to the data,” building on the work done
by the bank’s Office of Ethics and Business Conduct (EBC).
Furthermore, the firm was
tasked with identifying what internal circumstances allowed for the changes to
the data to take place.
Why Jordan had to go
The documents suggest that
the motivation for the data irregularities was to reward Saudi Arabia for the
“important role” it played in the bank's community.
Furthermore, the firm
identified “multiple factors” that may have motivated the senior bank official
to favorably modify Saudi Arabia’s data.
Firstly, Saudi Arabia had
implemented a number of significant reimbursable advisory services (RAS), which
the World Bank defines as “an
instrument developed to deliver advisory services to eligible clients requiring
services that cannot be fully funded from the bank’s country program”, under
which the bank provides “advisory services, analytical services, and
implementation support”, the costs for which the bank is then reimbursed. Some
of these RAS, the documents stated, pertained to the Doing Business report.
By improving Saudi Arabia’s
position on the Top Improvers list, the bank would “demonstrate the
effectiveness” of its RAS projects and “validate the amount of money” that
Saudi Arabia had spent on them.
Secondly, the senior
official had traveled to Saudi Arabia, where he gave a speech that asserted
that the country would see “significant gains” in its Doing Business reports as
a result of the bank’s advisory services. “Altering the data allowed (the
senior bank staff member) to demonstrate that his public prediction was
correct,” the document stated.
Thirdly, the senior staff
member and other bank officials were in discussions with Saudi Arabia to revive
an initiative that would recognize countries that had made “the most
significant strides” in implementing regulations that were conducive to
conducting business.
The Top Improver list draft
In August 2019, the Doing
Business team drafted its Top Improver list for its 2020 report. In that
iteration of the list, Jordan was listed in the first place, and Saudi Arabia
was ranked second.
The senior bank official
“instructed the Doing Business team to find a way to alter the data such that
Jordan fell from its first-place position”, according to the document.
The staff member told the
law firm that two senior officials at the World Bank’s MENA Regional Vice Presidency were the drivers of the push to
displace Jordan from its first-place position. The report stated that the MENA
officials believed that the credibility of the Doing Business report would be
questioned “in light of the turmoil (Jordan) was facing at the time” if it
ranked first on the Top Improvers list.
For their part, the two
MENA officials denied suggesting Jordan should be removed from its first-place
position, according to the documents.
In September 2019, a member
of the Doing Business team was sent to Jordan to investigate the legitimacy of
the reforms the Kingdom had been credited with. The documents stated that the
employee found no irregularities in Jordan’s data.
The senior bank staff
member at that point changed tactics, according to the law firm’s report, to
finding ways to boost Saudi Arabia’s score, and thereby their ranking on the
Top Improver list.
On September 30, the data
for Saudi Arabia was changed by the Doing Business team to boost its ranking
past Jordan, the documents stated. Specifically, a point was added pertaining
to the country’s treatment of debt, which raised Saudi Arabia’s legal rights
index from 3 to 4 points. Additionally, the compliance time was reduced for the
country’s newly enacted value-added tax.
This change, the documents
noted, also led to a change in the UAE’s data, as the UAE and Saudi Arabia have
similar tax systems. This change did not affect the UAE’s ranking, the report
said.
A report prepared by the
management of the World Bank's Development Economics Vice Presidency on December 16,
2020, reviewed data irregularities in the Doing Business reports for the years
2016–2020. The report stated that “after correcting (the) irregularities, ...
(Saudi Arabia) would not have been the top improving economy in Doing Business
2020 had these data irregularities not occurred.”
The leaked documents stated
that investigators found “no evidence” suggesting the Office of the President
or any members of the World Bank's board of directors had any involvement in the data changes affecting Saudi
Arabia and the UAE in the Doing Business 2020 report.
‘Toxic’ work environment
During its investigation,
the law firm interviewed members of the Doing Business team to determine why
these employees were willing to take actions they knew were inappropriate,
rather than file reports with the EBC. Employees’ responses largely described
two main reasons.
Firstly, the senior
official driving the data changes threatened his team that he would find out
who had complained about him. “Thus, staff members felt powerless to object,”
the documents state.
Secondly, Doing Business
employees interviewed by the firm described a work environment that was “at
best, deeply problematic, and, at worst, emotionally harrowing,” the firm’s
report said. The senior official’s management style was described as
“psychological terrorism” that created a “toxic environment”, the report quotes
employees as saying.
Finally, many Doing
Business employees feared their manager’s retaliation. This fear, the documents
said, kept employees from voicing their concerns regarding the Doing Business
report’s integrity until the senior official had left the bank.
The World Bank board of
directors announced on Sunday that it will discontinue the Doing Business
report after reviewing all the information relating to the report, including
the findings of past audits and its internal investigation.
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