Just days after publishing and blacklisting a list of eight Chinese firms operating in Nigeria for corruption and fraudulent activities, The World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have again released a list of 31 firms for similar sanction. The new list of companies and consultants was published in an August 16 update posted on the website of the World Bank.The Breton Woods institution noted that the period of ineligibility imposed on each of the defaulting companies and individual consultants extends to any legal entity they may control directly or indirectly.
It added that minimum period of ineligibility covers about three-years, provided the companies and individuals demonstrate to the Bank Group’s Integrity Compliance Officer sufficient readiness to take remedial measures to address offences as well as establish effective integrity compliance programme acceptable to the Bank.
The Chinese companies earlier blacklisted include China Railway Construction (International) Nigeria Company Limited, China Railway 18th Bureau Nigeria Engineering Company Limited, CCECC Nigeria Lekki (FTA) Company Limited, CCECC Nigeria Railway Company Limited, CRCC Petroleum & Gas Company Limited, and CCECC Nigeria Company Limited.
However, both the first and second lists contained names of other companies operating in various other countries around the world adjudged to have flouted corporate governance rules guiding procurement activities of the multilateral institutions.
The companies and consultants were debarred and declared ineligible to be awarded any World Bank-financed contracts for at least a year, between June 4, 2019, and March 3, 2020.
Some of the companies and consultants were accused of violating the provisions of the guidelines for the selection and employment of consultants under International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans and the International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants by World Bank borrowers.
Others were sanctioned for infractions of the policy as spelt out in the Procurement Guidelines and the World Bank Procurement Regulations for Investment Project Financing Borrowers for projects after July 1, 2016.
The various sanctions imposed on the businesses are expected to terminate at different periods until 2024.
According to the publication, those who violated procurement Guidelines 1.16a(i) were said to have engaged in either offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or indirectly, anything of value to improperly influence the actions of another party.
Those who made “collusive practice” were accused of colluding with others to achieve an improper purpose, including to improperly influence the actions of another party.
Those sanctioned for violating Paragraph 1.22(A)(V) (Aa) of the October 2006 and May 2010 Consultant Guidelines are those whose Request for proposals and the proposals were prepared in languages other than the national language of the Borrower approved by the Bank.
Violators of Procurement Guidelines 1.14(a)(i) are companies accused of “mis-procurement”, by providing services for which the contract was not awarded in accordance with the agreed provisions of the Loan Agreement with the bank.
For consultants that violated the Procurement Guidelines 1.23(a)(i), the World Bank said they were engaged in “corrupt practices” earlier defined in this report.
Besides, violators of Guidelines 1.15(a)(i) & (ii) were accused of issuing References to the Bank considered not in line stipulated standard, which suggested suspicious intentions towards fraud and corruption.
Two companies were cross debarred by World Bank and AfDB, Cross-Debarment is a practice where firms and individuals debarred by one multilateral development bank (MDB) may be sanctioned, for the same misconduct, by other MDBs participating in the regime.
