By Adedapo Adesanya
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has debarred Entreprise de Travaux et d’Etudes de Projets (ETEP) SA, a civil engineering company registered in Tunisia, for engaging in sanctionable practices.
The decision came from the Bank’s Sanctions Appeals Board and gave the company a penalty of 13 months for engaging in various fraudulent practices in Mali and Guinea.
An investigation conducted by its Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption established that ETEP engaged in a variety of fraudulent practices while bidding for construction contracts under the Bank-financed Road Development and Transport Facilitation Project on the Bamako-Zantiebougou-San Pedro Corridor in Mali and the Coyah-Farmoreah-Sierra Leone Border Road Reconstruction Project in Guinea, respectively.
The company was found to have falsified its financial statements, the experience of an employee and its qualification credentials in executing similar contracts.
The debarment renders ETEP and its affiliates ineligible to participate in bank-financed projects during the debarment period.
The debarment qualifies for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks under the Agreement for Mutual Recognition of Debarment Decisions, including the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
ETEP would be released from debarment at the expiration of the debarment period only conditional on the company implementing an integrity compliance program, the lender said.
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Dipo Olowookere