Whistleblower Exposes World Bank Corruption

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The World Bank & Inspection Panel's headquarte...

The World Bank & Inspection Panel’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

World Bank whistleblower exposes endemic corruption & money laundering which goes all the way to the Whitehouse.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW ON YOU TUBE HERE


Transcript of Abby Martin talking to Karen Hudes, former senior executive at the World Bank, about her experience blowing the whistle on the high level corruption within the international financial system and how her story was censored by mainstream media:

Abby Martin (Interviewer):  What if I told you the most powerful banking entity in the world was laundering money, and that our corporate bureaucrats go to great lengths that their illegal activities are never discovered.  But right now you’re probably thinking that’s not news.  But stay with me here … The world bank is an international financial institution that designated to help developing countries by providing loans, all in the name of quote “reducing global poverty“.

However the global giant has been accused of INCREASING global poverty by keeping the third world in perpetual debt and servitude to the first world.  But aside from its obvious critiques there is blatant criminal corruption taking place at the highest levels at the financial institution.  One woman has risked everything to shed light on this truth.  She exposes information that reveals the extent of the collusion between financial groups and foreign governments.

Her name is Karen Hudes.  She was senior counsel at the bank for twelve years and from blowing the whistle, she is here to talk to me about her experience and what it all means for the rest of us.  I’m joined by Karen Hudes.  Thanks so much for coming on Karen.

Karen Hudes:  Thanks so much for having me (shake hands).

Interviewer:  So can you briefly explain what the impetus was for you to speak out – what did you see?

Karen Hudes:  I was a lawyer and I saw securities fraud.  I saw financial information that was not being disclosed to $180 billion dollars worth of bond holders.  It was my job to make sure that financial statements were correct, so first I reported it up the corporate ladder to the Audit Committee.  When that didn’t work I went to the US (United States) Treasury Department, and when that didn’t work I went to the US Congress.  Senator Lugor(sp?) wrote three letters to the bank saying don’t fire this lady, and they promptly fired me.  

This means the US congress does not have the information that it needs, so they’re stuck with the problem.  After I was fired, three senators asked for a G.A.O. Enquiry into the corruption that I was reporting at the World Bank:  Senators Lugor, Lahey and Bigh (sp.?)

Interviewer:  Walk us through what exactly – where was this money being laundered and to whom?

Karen Hudes:  They money was going every which way because anybody who reported misconduct was fired.  So in one case the borrowers were being overcharged.  In another case I was reporting corruption in the Phillipines.  $900 million dollars that should have gone to fight poverty in the Phillipines instead went to a corrupt man, Lucio Tong (sp.?) who was in default on his loans.  Phillipine National Bank went into default.  There was a run on the bank … Phillipine National Bank … the investment company tried to bail out the bank for $500 million dollars and then the Board was lied to.  And my story is about trying to uncover the corer-up.  The cover-up went all the way to Congress, and then it went to 188 Ministers of Finance.  So this is corruption in the entire world.  And until it’s set straight, what we’re going to have is we’re going to have a CURRENCY WAR.  

Interviewer:  So you think this is just a microcosm of what’s happening across the entire institution – you just saw one aspect of this kind of laundering?

Karen Hudes:  It wasn’t just me.  There’s a group of World Bank whistleblowers.  There’s one of us from the United Kingdom, one of us from Mexico; there’s one of us from India; there’s one of us from Ethiopia (sp.?); and we’re all reporting the same thing.  Corruption from top to bottom of that institution.  The money is going every which way but where it needs to go to fight poverty.  

Interviewer:  You were kind of stifled.  You went to the Government and you had a couple of senators on your side – congress people   Ahm, what about the corporate press?  You said you continuously tried to go to them with this story to cover it and you were shunned as well?

Karen Hudes:  Absolutely, and the reason why I found out is because the corporate press is owned by ONE mega conglomorate.  All of the financial institutions in the world, just about, are part of this scheme to rip off everybody … every single citizen on this planet.  That’s what I’m talking about and its not just my idea.  There was a very accurate report on this from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.  Three mathematicians  looked at accurate corporate data on 43,000 trans-national companies and they reported through very clever interlocking corporate directors, these groups managed to grab ten times the power than they otherwise had in their finances, so they own forty percent of all the assets of all the companies traded on the capital markets of the world, and they own sixty percent of the earnings for every year.  This means that the Central Banks of the world are issuing paper money with absolutely NO accountability to the people who are using this money, and pretty soon, in a matter of weeks probably, the whole system is going to come to a screeching halt with something called Gold-back Redemption (?)

Interviewer:  So let’s back up a little bit because basically there’s no oversight over these institutions.  Aside from laundering money … plainly they’re also laundering money off-shore, hidden … hidden in these off shore bank accounts.  I want to talk about how much power the banking system has over geo-politics, I mean you just broke down that all these people are interlocking.  Would you say they control the government as well?

Karen Hudes:  Absolutely.  What I have documented is “State Capture“.  I tried to have information go to the voters before the Presidential elections because Robert Zelleck was Mitt Romney‘s National Security Transitional Planning Chief.  CBS wouldn’t report it.  If the voters don’t know who they’re voting for … I asked CBS to have a question on international corruption.  They figured the American public didn’t need to know.  So if the public doesn’t really know what’s going on then … then you don’t have a democracy, and that’s what we’re talking about.  

Interviewer:  Can you  name any names of who you think are the real power players here, because I know that a little bit of digging can really reveal who these people are who are pulling the strings here?

Karen Hudes:  What you need to do is look at the ownership of these corporations.  They’re the ones we hear about all the time … Goldman Sachs.  You were talking about Bank of America … they are actuall all ONE BANK.  That’s what happened when we saw the LIBOR crisis.  These big institutions are ONE BIG CONGLOMERATE that think they control the world and they think they are above the law, and they’re not.  

Interviewer:  What about the guise of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank … looking back since you’ve served so long in this institution, what do you think about  what they present and sell themselves to the entire world … I mean the whole structural addressment policies keeping the third world perpetually in debt ,,, do you think that’s an entire ruse to maintain their profit structure?

Karen Hudes:   I think these are institutions that if they’re cleaned up can do a lot of good – they can provide a basis for a peaceful transition.  It’s very clear that we need to have some regularity in our international financial system … we certainly don’t need a currency war and that’s what we’re on track for unless and until we start to get to the bottom of this corruption.  And it’s very simple actually to do because most of the people know that the corporate media – seventy percent of American people in a recent gallup poll distrust their media because it’s owned by these banks.

Interviewer:  Karen, to wrap it up. why do you think that whistleblowers such as yourself obviously exposing the massive corruption within these financial institutions are not incurring the full wrath of “The State” as we see … someone like Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning?

Karen Hudes:  That’s a very interesting question.  I think it’s because we have the people behind us, and enough people know about us, and because we’re working together, but I have to say I’m very curious as to why the media is now covering Edward Snowden.  I’m worried that this is to get people riled up when what they really need to know is that I told ALL the Ministers of Finance,  all of the Governors, I have told all of the State’s Attorney-General.  I bought a bond and I had a lawsuit and 188 Ministers of Finance settled my lawsuit.  It’s Eric Holder who’s holding up the settlement of my case.

Interviewer:  Well I won’t deny we have some criminals in the government Karen.  Thank you so much for coming on.  We’ll be following your case and covering it as it develops.  Karen Hudes, former Senior Counsel at the World Bank – appreciate it.

Karen Hudes:  Thanks for having me.  

END OF INTERVIEW

  

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