Friday, January 16, 2009 [ manilatimes.net ]
By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE World Bank has blacklisted seven firms, including three Manila-based companies, barring them from securing future contracts due to alleged corruption.
“As a result of swift action when suspicions of collusion in the bidding process were raised by the project team, the World Bank stopped an estimated $33 million from being awarded,” the Washington-based lender said in a statement.
The lender said no funds from the National Road Improvement and Maintenance Project phase 1 (NRIMP I) were disbursed to the blacklisted firms.
The project was designed to assist the Philippine government in the upgrade of the country’s road network and was partially financed by a $150-million loan from the lender.
It aimed not just to build roads, but also to address weaknesses in project management, so that future roads projects would deliver more benefit at lower costs.
The World Bank’s investigation uncovered evidence of a major cartel involving local and international firms bidding on contracts under phase one of the NRIMP 1. Debarred were the following companies:
• E. C. de Luna Construction Corp. and Eduardo de Luna, owner and sole proprietor of the firm, were both debarred indefinitely—the first permanent debarments since 2004.
• China Road and Bridge Corp. was debarred for eight years. The debarment can be reduced or terminated after five years if the firm puts in place a compliance program satisfactory to the World Bank.
• China State Construction Corp. and China Wu Yi Co. Ltd. were each debarred for six years. In the case of each firm, the debarment can be reduced or terminated after four years if that firm puts in place a compliance program satisfactory to the World Bank.
• China Geo-Engineering Corp. was debarred for five years. The debarment can be reduced or terminated after three years if the firm puts in place a compliance program satisfactory to the World Bank.
• Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. and CM Pancho Construction Inc. were each debarred for four years. In the case of each firm, the debarment can be reduced or terminated after two years if that firm puts in place a compliance program satisfactory to the World Bank.
Another firm, Dongsung Construction Co. Ltd. (Dongsung) was separately debarred in August 2008 for four years for fraudulent and corrupt practices in relation to the NRIMP 1 case, with the debarment subject to reduction or termination after two years if the firm puts in place a compliance program satisfactory to the World Bank.
James Adams, World Bank vice president for East Asia, said misuse of public money is a problem for everyone.
“It deprives the poorest people of the development funds that are so vitally needed and it undermines public confidence in public and private institutions. This case shows our processes working as they should: we detected the possibility of collusion early, we took action to investigate, we worked with the Government of the Philippines to strengthen anti-corruption controls in the next phase of the project and after an extensive and fair process, we have sanctioned the parties involved.”
In 2006, the World Bank revised its sanctions procedures to allow the Bank to deal with fraud and corruption cases more efficiently.
