MONROVIA, LIBERIA-The Ministry of Education has clarified that at no time it colluded with any company to defraud the World Bank, as being wrongly reported in some quarters of the local media.

A recent publication by a local daily, among other things, claimed that the Ministry had awarded a contract to a company sanctioned by the World Bank and also in disregarded to the World Bank’s borrower’s regulations.

But the Ministry’s Communication Director, Maxim Bleeten, says the Ministry respects its relationship with donors, including the World Bank.

However, he was not clear whether or not the Ministry awarded a contract to Crosswords, an Indian company sanctioned by the World Bank.

Mr. Beeten, in an ELBC interview Wednesday, October 19, 2022, said:” Even though it is not established that the company was sanctioned by the World Bank, the Ministry does not award contracts on the basis of relationship but quality service delivery.”

He said the Ministry, if aware of the purported sanctions imposed on the company as being reported, would not indulge in doing business with such company.

Mr. Bleeten then assured that those responsible for awarding of contracts at the Ministry are working to ascertain the authenticity of the information.