A medical device maker that misrepresented the amount of commissions it promised to pay a local agent in Bangladesh was one of three companies the World Bank debarred in separate actions announced Wednesday.
Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG s.a., based in Seneffe, Belgium, was debarred for two years.
The World Bank said said the company “engaged in fraudulent practices by misrepresenting the commission amounts it had agreed to pay to its local agent in relation to bids for two contracts.”
The company won one of the contracts.
The project was the Health Sector Development Program in Bangladesh.
Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG makes and sells medical products for the treatment of cancer using brachytherapy.
Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy that treats cancer by irradiation from a short distance.
The company has been listed on the Euronext Brussels stock exchange since April 1997. It trades under the symbol EZBG.
The World Bank also found that Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG engaged in collusive practices.
The company and its local agent arranged “with procurement officials to artificially inflate the prices of the company’s bids” for the Bangladesh contracts, the World Bank said.
The two-year debarment qualifies for cross-debarment by the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.
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The World Bank also said Wednesday it debarred to other companies in separate and unrelated incidents.
RKD Construction Pvt. Ltd., a road builder based in India, was debarred for 18 months for “fraudulent practices” on a road construction project in the eastern India state of Odisha.
“RKD engaged in fraudulent practices by altering the details of financial documents to improperly obtain advance payments,” the World Bank said.
RKD staff also double billed for segments of road that it had already been paid for, the bank said. The double billing went on for two years.
The World Bank said RKD has repaid all the money it collected by the double billing.
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On Wednesday the World Bank also debarred Egis International Indonesia for 15 months. The company is a subsidiary of French infrastructure and transport group, Egis International.
The World Bank said various Egis companies “misrepresented the availability of a key specialist, which is a fraudulent practice under World Bank consultant guidelines.”
The misconduct occurred in connection with the Road Climate Resilience Project in Timor-Leste.
(In November 2017, the World Bank debarred Egis’ joint venture partner on the project, Lelo Engineering Consultant Unipessoal Lda, for 15 months for the same fraudulent practice.)
Egis’ parent company, Egis International, was sanctioned with conditional non-debarment for 15 months. The company is eligible to participate in World Bank-financed projects if it follows the bank’s rules and compliance requirements.
The debarments of RKD and Egis Indonesia qualify for cross-debarment by the other multilateral development banks.
A list of all World Bank debarred entities and individuals is here.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
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