[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l LS: Corrupt Dam Firms Face World Bank Ban?
Business Day, Johannesburg
Fri, 30 Jul 1999
>
>Corrupt firms face blacklist
>Companies positively linked to bribery charges face World Bank action
>David Greybe
>
>CAPE TOWN - The dozen international companies linked to bribery charges
>against a former boss of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project could be barred
>from World Bank-financed projects around the world.
>Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils said yesterday that he
>and his Lesotho counterpart, Monyane Moleleki, were working closely together
>on the case.
>"We view the allegations extremely seriously," Kasrils said. Instructions
>had been issued to the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, which
>manages the water project, "to recover the amounts concerned if the
>allegations are proven".
>If so, "the follow-up action will have to be looked at in terms of
>international conventions and guidelines concerning the penalisation of
>contractors found guilty of bribery", Kasrils said.
>The Lesotho government this week charged its former top official at the
>Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Masupha Sole, with taking R12m in bribes
>from a dozen international companies over 10 years.
>Meanwhile, SA's Concor and Group Five yesterday denied any knowledge of a
>$733404 bribe allegedly paid to Sole by an international consortium of which
>they were part.
>Both companies claimed they were "minority shareholders" in the seven-member
>Highlands Water Venture and said they knew nothing about the alleged bribe
>until yesterday.
>The companies named in Sole's charge sheet include well-known European and
>North American firms such as Impregilio of Italy, Dumez International of
>France, Acres International of Canada and Swedish-Swiss ABB.
>Kasrils said the ambassadors of countries with firms involved as well as
>representatives of the World Bank and other donor agencies had been briefed
>about the bribery case before it came to court - "and to seek their support
>in dealing firmly with corruption".
>The Canadian high commission and Italian and French embassies declined to
>comment on the matter yesterday.
>Because of the World Bank's $150m involvement in the R10bn international
>project to take water to Gauteng from Lesotho, the bank is obliged to apply
>its operational regulations - including those on fraud and corruption - to
>contractors linked to the project.
>The bank's procurement guidelines state: "The bank will declare a firm
>ineligible, either indefinitely or for a stated period of time, to be
>awarded a bank-financed contract if it at any time determines that the firm
>has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for, or in
>executing, a bank financed contract."
>It is the job of the bank's so-called sanctions committee, which meets
>regularly to review the findings of investigations, to debar firms. It also
>regularly publishes a comprehensive list of debarred firms - the World Bank
>Listing of Ineligible Firms.
>According to a source, the World Bank will wait until the outcome of the
>Maseru court case against Sole before contemplating action against any of
>the companies named on the charge sheet. Some of them are still involved in
>the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
>Kasrils said the conduct of companies which had been named and were still
>involved in the project was being "closely scrutinised on an ongoing basis".
>He said "despite the court case, the project is on target and on budget, and
>consumers will not be affected".
>The governments of Lesotho and SA, responsible for overseeing the project,
>were not prepared to tolerate bribery and corruption. "We are deadly serious
>about rooting out any form of corruption," Kasrils said.
>Another source, elaborating on the charges against Sole, said this week they
>related mainly to allegations that he used his position of trust to demand
>bribes to ensure favourable contract decisions. It was alleged that he had
>abused the complex claims procedure, demanding bribes to take decisions in
>favour of firms involved in contracts worth hundreds of millions of rands.
>
>Sole was charged on 14 counts of bribery and fraud, and one of perjury,
>relating to incidents between February and December in 1998. The case was
>postponed to August 31.
>Sole is on bail of R200000.
>http://www.bday.co.za/99/0730/news/news1.htm
>
>