Enforcing Accountability: World Bank Debars Ghanaian Company for Sanctionable Misconduct Relating to a Waste Management Project in Liberia

This two-year debarment follows the company’s acknowledgment of misconduct

 

WASHINGTON, September 25, 2013— The World Bank Group announced the debarment of Zoomlion Ghana Limited (Zoomlion), a privately held company headquartered in Ghana for a period of two years following the company’s acknowledgment of misconduct impacting the World Bank-financed the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project in Liberia. The company paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices.

The debarment is part of a Negotiated Resolution Agreement (NRA) which acknowledges the company’s cooperation and disciplinary measures against staff involved in the misconduct. 

The two-year debarment came into effect on September 24, 2013. During this period, Zoomlion will not qualify for any contract financed by the World Bank Group.

As part of the settlement, the company will also need to demonstrate full and satisfactory compliance with the World Bank Integrity standards.

“This is a case where a company under a World Bank investigation is demonstrating responsibility for wrongdoing by enforcing disciplinary action and committing to a new standard of integrity governing its operations,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Integrity Vice President.

“Promoting this type of corporate responsibility while holding companies accountable for wrongdoing is one of the strategic pillars of the World Bank’s anticorruption strategy.”

Zoomlion’s debarment qualifies for cross-debarment by other MDBs under the Agreement of Mutual Recognition of Debarments that was signed on April 9, 2010.

About the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency
The World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) is responsible for preventing, deterring and investigating allegations of fraud, collusion and corruption in World Bank projects, capitalizing on the experience of a multilingual and highly specialized team of investigators and forensic accountants.

Key results of INT’s work in FY12-13 include:

• 74 entities sanctioned in FY 13 including settlements where companies are debarred as a default sanction in addition to committing to cooperation with the Integrity Vice Presidency. These include the Canadian company SNC Lavalin and more than 100 of its affiliates and the Indian company Larsen and Toubro Limited among others.

• 253 jointly recognized debarments among MDBs that signed the Cross Debarment agreement..

• Building precautions against fraud and corruption in high-risk projects.

• The World Bank introduced its new App to report fraud and corruption allegations relating to its projects. The new App also complements other tools and information resources to support the detection of fraud and corruption red flags. The World Bank Integrity App is available for the IOS platform through the iTunes store.

• Following Alstom’s acknowledgment of misconduct in relation to a Bank-financed hydropower project in Zambia, the World Bank debarred Alstom Hydro France and Alstom Network Schweiz AG (Switzerland) - in addition to their affiliates - for a period of three years as part of a Negotiated Resolution Agreement between Alstom and the World Bank which also includes a restitution payment by the two companies totaling approximately $9.5 million.

• The second meeting of the International Corruption Hunters Alliance brought together 175 senior enforcement and anticorruption officials from 6 regions, to inject momentum into global anti-corruption efforts.

• Cooperation agreements in support of parallel investigations, asset recovery and information sharing with the UK Serious Fraud Office, the European Anti-Fraud Office, Interpol, the Korean Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the Ethiopian Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission and several other national and international authorities.

Enhanced preventive training and forensic audits designed to identify and address red flags and integrity controls in World Bank-financed projects.


Source: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/09/25/world-bank-debars-ghanaian-company-sanctionable-misconduct-waste-management-project-Liberia

Paulina says: Another day, another something, something, something........I am speechless...... Heaven Help Ghana.....