A further twist was provided as it came to light how controversial is the record of the Chinese company that is now the largest single investor in the scheme. A trawl on Google shows how, in several countries, it has been caught up in scandals involving the bribery of locals with political influence. In 2011, the son of a former Bangladeshi prime minister was jailed for laundering money taken in bribes from the China Harbour Engineering Company. The World Bank website shows how in the same year, following “fraudulent practices” uncovered in road building in the Philippines, this firm’s parent company with all its subsidiaries are disbarred from any World Bank-funded road or bridge-building projects until 2017.