Why NGOs are seeking a Net1 funding probe
Corruption Watch, Black Sash and Equal Education call for a review of the IFC’s decision to invest $107m despite ethical lapse
Corruption Watch, Black Sash and Equal Education want a formal investigation into the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) decision to invest $107m million in Net1 UEPS despite the existence of overwhelming evidence of unlawful and unethical practices involving Net1. The three NGOs nongovernment organisations (NGOs) are hoping to persuade the IFC’s compliance advisoradviser/ombudsman (CAO) that it should conduct a compliance appraisal and investigation into the IFC’s Net1 investment, which was made in April 2016. The NGOs’ concerns relate to Net1’s involvement, through its subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services, in the distribution of social grants. "It is clear that evidence of unethical and potentially unlawful conduct by CPS [Cash Paymaster Services] existed at the time at which the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, made its investment and that the lack of due diligence in respect of the investment is in breach of several provisions of the IFC policy on environment and so...
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