Last week EDC announced that a review of its support for an SNC-Lavalin project in Angola cleared its staff of any wrongdoing. Yet the review process raises more questions than it answers.
Export Development Canada is mishandling loan risks and keeping board members in the dark about key financing arrangements, according to a scathing report by federal Auditor-General Michael Ferguson. By Barrie McKenna | The Globe and Mail
Legal and policy reforms are needed to bolster anti-corruption mechanisms at Export Development Canada (EDC), according to a report released today by Above Ground. The publication identifies key weaknesses in EDC’s anti-corruption screening procedures and names several EDC clients investigated and/or charged with corrupt practices.
In this report, we examine reforms needed to raise Export Development Canada’s anti-corruption client screening to a more robust standard. The recommendations are informed by leading anti-corruption policies and guidance documents from other export credit agencies, international financial organizations and the private sector.
Hats off to The Globe and Mail for its reporting on Bombardier’s dealings in South Africa. Without it, Canadians may never have learned of allegations of corruption surrounding two South African contracts landed by the firm.
Next week a group of indigenous activists from Malaysia, accompanied by the NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), will travel to Canada to call attention to the decades of clear-cut logging that has razed the rainforests of Borneo and allegedly enriched a Malaysian family accused of money laundering through a Canadian company.
When allegations emerged last fall that the Mexican president’s 2012 election campaign was funded in part by a subsidiary of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, the news barely made headlines in Canada. But this development in the Odebrecht scandal should give us pause, because it raises crucial questions about the anti-corruption and disclosure policies of our export credit agency.
Export Development Canada has perfected the art of lending billions of taxpayer dollars to scandal-ridden foreign buyers. But its transparency could use some work.
By Richard Poplak | Published in The Walrus
Earlier this year, Export Development Canada (EDC) was tasked with running Canada’s new Development Finance Institute. In its new role financing private investment for the purposes of poverty alleviation and sustainable development, EDC will need to adopt robust due diligence practices to ensure the investments it supports respect human rights and the environment.
Above Ground works to ensure that companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment worldwide. It is a project of MakeWay, a national charity that builds partnerships and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.
Above Ground c/o MakeWay
400-163 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H5
438-992-5163
