Media Contacts: In Washington -- David Theis (202) 458-8626 In Senegal -- Mademba Ndiaye 221 33 849 50 00 WASHINGTON/DAKAR, Senegal, June 11, 2008—The World Bank today announced that it has debarred Générale de l’Ingénierie des Travaux et de l’Equipement (GENITE), a firm based in Senegal, and Mr. Aliou Niang, a Senegalese national and sole owner of GENITE, for fraudulent practices by GENITE in relation to two Bank-financed projects in Senegal. GENITE has been declared ineligible to be awarded any future Bank-funded contracts for a period of two years. This debarment period may be extended by three years if the company does not promptly put in place an effective corporate compliance program acceptable to the World Bank and implement the program in a manner satisfactory to the Bank. Mr. Niang has been declared ineligible to be awarded future Bank contracts for a period of two years. In the case of GENITE, the scope of the ineligibility includes any firm or individual which directly or indirectly controls GENITE, and any firm which GENITE directly or indirectly controls; and in the case of Mr. Niang, the ineligibility also includes any firm he directly or indirectly controls. The sanctions, part of the World Bank’s broader anti-corruption efforts, were imposed by the Bank’s Sanctions Board. The debarments resulted from an investigation by the World Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), which is charged with investigating allegations of fraud and corruption in Bank-financed projects. The Bank-financed projects affected by the frauds in this case were the Urban Development and Decentralization Program, which was designed to upgrade basic infrastructure and improve financial management in some Senegalese communities; and the Urban Mobility Improvement Project, which aimed to improve the safety, efficiency and quality of urban mobility in the Dakar metropolitan area and the communities of Thiés and Kaolack. The Urban Development project is closed, and the Urban Mobility project is scheduled to close in September 2008. The INT investigation found that GENITE forged two advance payment guarantees under the Urban Development project in order to obtain advance payment on contracts without providing the security required for the protection of the Borrower. The investigation also found that GENITE forged a further three bid securities under the Urban Mobility project in order to be awarded three additional contracts.. The fraud was originally uncovered by the public works agency responsible for carrying out work on the Bank projects. The agency then informed Bank staff in the Senegal Country Office, who referred the wrongdoing to INT. The INT investigation involved the collection and analysis of a wide array of documentation, as well as interviews of many witnesses in Senegal. The investigation results were then described by INT in a Notice of Sanctions Proceedings which the World Bank’s Evaluation and Suspension Officer (EO) issued to the firm and individual involved in the described forgeries. Mr. Madani M. Tall, World Bank Country Director for Senegal, said, “The people of Senegal deserve to have open, fair, and transparent competition in public procurement, in order for their financial resources to be used most effectively. We are extremely grateful to the Senegalese agency that first identified these frauds and brought them to the Bank’s attention, so that we could hold the wrongdoers to account.” Upon consideration of the INT investigation results and the written response of GENITE, and following an administrative hearing attended by both Mr. Niang and INT, the Sanctions Board determined that GENITE had submitted a total of five forged documents in relation to the award of contracts across two separate Bank projects. In addition, the Sanctions Board determined that as the result of the close operational control maintained by Mr. Niang over GENITE and the absence of appropriate control mechanisms, Mr. Niang must be held responsible for the misconduct of GENITE. Since 1999, the World Bank has debarred 342 firms and individuals for engaging in fraud and corruption in Bank-financed projects. -###- |
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