The World Bank Feb. 18 officially rejected a request by a Serbian journalist for reports on the procurement process concerning a concerning the procurement process for a controversial Bank-funded project in Serbia to pump water out of the flooded coal mine. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)

“While there is no single World Bank report on the Bank’s review of the procurement process, other documentation related to the Bank’s procurement review is restricted from public access under the World Bank’s Access to Information Policy (the Policy) because it is covered by the Information provided by Member Countries or Third Parties in Confidence exception and/or the Deliberative Information exception under the Policy,” according to a letter sent to Gordana Andric of The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

BIRN journalists reported Jan. 8 that neither member of the winning consortium had the required experience and that one company’s director is on trial for tax evasion.

The Bank denial letter also stated:

Please note that the procurement procedure carried out by EPS followed the Serbian Public Procurement Law. Final tender documents as issued, bid evaluation report, and the signed contract were reviewed by the Bank during the project appraisal phase. The Bank found the procurement process carried out by Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) acceptable.

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Filed under: IFTI Watch