THE African Development Bank (AFDB) has placed a 21-month settlement ban on two Chinese and Danish Companies, Sieyuan Electric and Burmeister & Wain over fraudulent practices.
The development bank made this known through two separate statements signed by Amba Mpoke-Bigg of its Communication and External Relations Department on June 8 and 16 respectively.
The AfDB revealed that an investigation by its Integrity and Anti-Corruption office revealed that in 2015, Sieyuan Electric and and its subsidiary, Jiangsu Rugao had falsified documents to illegally outscore other bidders in the bank’s financed project in Rwanda.
Sieyuan Electric and subsidiary again falsified documents in response to an enquiry by the Anti-Corruption wing of AfDB.
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In the settlement agreement, the China based company and its subsidiary are excluded from AfDB’s project for 12 and 21 months respectively.
The bank also announced a 21 months debarment of Danish based Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor for colluding with some members of the Mauritian administration to gain undue advantage over competitors in the bank’s Saint Louis power plant in Mauritius.
“Evidence supports a finding that Burmeister & Wain, on a balance of probabilities, financially rewarded members of the Mauritian administration and others, through the intermediary of third parties, for providing access to confidential tender-related information,” AfDB wrote.
It noted that the information allowed the company gain access to technical specifications of the tenders as required for the project.
“Burmeister & Wain further concealed the arrangements it had entered into with the third parties, in breach of the rules governing the tenders,” the statement further read.
Following the debarment agreement between AfDB and the contractors, a cross- debarment shall be made which would bound the two companies from bidding for projects from any other developmental bank.
The two companies have been cross debarred by the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94