Leonard McCarthy is the Integrity Vice President of the World Bank Group, a position he has held since June 2008. The Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) contributes to the World Bank’s core mission of promoting development and reducing poverty by ensuring that funds are used for their intended purposes.

INT’s mandate is to investigate and litigate cases of fraud and corruption in Bank Group-supported activities, as well as address evidence of significant fraud or corruption involving staff.

McCarthy has brought about significant operational and organizational changes in INT that have helped increase the World Bank’s capacity to address fraud and corruption. In this time, INT has finalized more than 900 investigations, sanctions, audits and advisory engagements. McCarthy was involved in the World Bank’s first settlement, which laid the groundwork for the Bank Group to more expediently deal with companies that admit wrongdoing. Under McCarthy’s leadership, the World Bank also launched the International Corruption Hunters Alliance and brokered a landmark cross-debarment agreement with other multilateral development banks. In effect since 2010, the agreement’s signatories have jointly debarred more than 500 entities.

McCarthy created critical new functions within INT including a forensic accounting section, preventive services unit, and a compliance office. The preventive services unit analyzes insights gained from investigations, and helps to integrate these as lessons and precautions into World Bank business. The integrity compliance office monitors sanctioned entities to help companies clean up their operations and restore them to good standing.

As Vice President for Integrity, McCarthy also has a leadership role in the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative and the implementation of the Bank’s Governance and Anti-corruption (GAC) Agenda.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, McCarthy, a South African national, held the position of Head of South Africa’s Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), overseeing crime analysis, investigation, prosecution, asset forfeiture, and civil litigation. Under McCarthy, the DSO secured convictions in major cases involving corporate offences, organized crime, grand corruption and urban terror; and interdicted record amounts of proceeds of crime, financial assets, drugs and other contraband.

McCarthy also serves as the Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Anti-corruption & Transparency and is an ex-officio member of its Partnering against Corruption Initiative (PACI). He holds the BA, BJuris and LLB degrees.