Executive Summary on Whistleblower Protections at the Asian Development Bank

Following an assessment of whistleblower protection policies at four multilateral development banks (MDBs), this summary offers a detailed overview of the current status of whistleblower protection at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Compared to the other four banks the ADB came second in the final ranking. Positive Findings include:

• the whistleblower programme has the broadest broad mandate to scout for evidence of corruption and to protect employees who find it. For example, it mandates that employees have a duty to disclose illegality, otherwise they might loose their employment
• the duty to protect anonymity extends during and after an investigation of the whistleblower’s allegations, thereby setting a standard for all MDBs
• it grants a realistic time frame of 90 days to initiate claims and seek final review by the Administrative Tribunal.

Negative findings include:

• there is a blanket prohibition on communicating externally without prior permission from the Bank
• on the surface, the Bank endorses the principles of due process, however, the president reserves the right to terminate employees without recourse and controls the composition of the Appeals Panel
• there is no credible outside review mechanism for allegations of wrongdoing; there are no anti-reprisal rights for witnesses or even parties in the Accountability Mechanism to redress outside community and citizen grievances from Bank-financed projects.