A group of farmers has reached a settlement with the World Bank’s private sector arm in a class action lawsuit that alleges that a company it backed for investment tortured, harassed, and killed members of the Bajo Aguán community in Honduras.
The suit — Juana Doe et al v. International Finance Corporation — filed by a group of farmers in northeastern Honduras, who remained anonymous due to safety concerns, focuses on IFC and its Asset Management Company, or AMC, “knowingly profiting from financing murder, violence, and dispossession,” the group alleges in court documents.
In 2009, IFC approved a $30 million loan to Corporación Dinant to help expand its palm oil plantations, operations, and build a biogas plant. Later that year it paid out $15 million of the loan.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
