KOLKATA, India (NNN-Bernama) -- India's eastern state Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday demanded a high-level probe into a World Bank report highlighting corruption and fraud in national highway projects funded by the bank.
"It is a serious issue. There should be a high-level investigation into it," Xinhua news agency quoted the minister as saying.
Kumar, who has declared a war on corruption in Bihar, said the central government must 'act fast to expose those who are held responsible, if the charges are true.'
"The World Bank's revelation is something that affects all of us as fraud activities in national highway projects would have hit everyone," he said.
According to a report by World Bank, private contractors had offered bribes to officials of the National Highway Authority of India to obtain contracts.
The World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit has sought a thorough probe into the matter, reports said.
The investigation is likely to further highlight concerns about corruption in development projects and increase pressure on outgoing President Robert Zoellick to tackle shortcomings in the bank's oversight of projects. -- NNN-BERNAMA
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