Just a few months ago we were all lining up to fellate Macmillan for standing up to neighbourhood bully Amazon and now comes the revelation that company reps in a part of the world that basically runs on bribes made bribes in a bid for a textbook contract. Now they’re banned from receiving World Bank money for six years. Looks like the next round of fellating will be Mac’s… IN PRISON! That’s right, people: the CLINK! The SLAMMER! STATESVILLE! The BIG HOUSE! The CROWBAR MOTEL!  You’re going down! And up. UP THE RIVER! How the worm has turned! The gig is up, Macmillan. We’re on to you. Naw, I’m just kidding. S’cool. But that get out of jail free card you got for humiliating Amazon is hereby revoked.

The World Bank said it had banned British publisher Macmillan from taking up its contracts for six years after the company said it paid bribes to secure a deal to print textbooks in south Sudan.

Macmillan said it made “corrupt payments” in a bidding process for an education project supported by a World Bank-managed fund in the African region, the bank said in a statement.

“The World Bank Group has debarred Macmillan Limited … declaring the company ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts for a period of six years in the wake of the company’s admission of bribery payments relating to a Trust Fund-supported education project in Southern Sudan,” read the statement.

International donors have pumped millions of dollars into development projects in war-ravaged south Sudan through a Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) managed by the World Bank.