World Bank sanctions six Nigerian firms, 12 others

The World Bank has barred six local firms from transacting business with it, including engaging in any form procurement activity.
Acccording to a report by The Nation, newspaper, the affected organisations were accused of contradicting the World Bank’s procurement and consultant guidelines during the bank’s procurement for projects and programmes.
The bank listed the affected firms to include, Karitex Limited, Gurpreet Singh Malik limited, Kamal Sharda limited, Sharda Impex (U.K) limited, Shereena Agriculture Limited and Vikram Deepak Gursahaney Limited.
Among the barred firms, only Shereena Agriculture Limited is based in Kano State, the others are in Lagos.
Procurement guideline 1.15 of the bank stipulates that borrowers, suppliers, contractors as well as bidders should observe highest ethical standard and shun any fraudulent practices during procurement process.
The section reads: “It is the Bank’s policy to require that borrowers (including beneficiaries of bank loans), as well as bidders/suppliers/contractors under bank-financed contracts, observe the highest standard of ethics during the procurement and execution of such contracts.
“In pursuance of this policy, the bank: (a) defines, for the purposes of this provision, the terms set forth below as follows: (i) ‘corrupt practice’ means the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of anything of value to influence the action of a public official in the procurement process or in contract execution; and
“(ii) ‘fraudulent practice’ means a misrepresentation of facts in order to influence a procurement process or the execution of a contract to the detriment of the Borrower, and includes collusive practices among bidders (prior to or after bid submission) designed to establish bid prices at artificial, non-competitive levels and to deprive the Borrower of the benefits of free and open competition.”
The bank temporarily barred 12 additional firms for contravening Sections 1.12, 1.14 and 1.15 of the World Bank procurement guidelines.
While the sanction duration for one of the firms Xl Management Services Limited extended to 12 months, Snc-Lavalin International (Nigeria) Limited was sanctioned for 10 years with sanction period to end in year 2023. Others ranged between four and five years.
The temporarily suspended firms include Best Scan Solutions Limited, Mr. Iyke Ambrose, Xl Management Services Limited, Zarcus Construction Nigeria Ltd, Engr. Hammed MutiuOlalekan, Honeyomar Ventures Ltd., Agonic Associates Nig Ltd, Mr. Agomuo Nicholas and D.A. Construction Limited.
Others are Snc-Lavalin International (Nigeria) Limited, Contransimex Nigeria Limited and Sego Ventures Nigeria Limited.
Section 1.12 titled Reserved Procurement stated that; “When open competition would be the appropriate method of procurement for particular goods or works of the project, but the Borrower wishes to reserve this procurement for one or more specific firms or enterprises, the Bank may accept such reserved procurement only on condition that: (a) it is not eligible for financing out of the Bank loan; and (b) it will not significantly affect the satisfactory project implementation in terms of costs, quality, and completion time.”
While Section 1.14 of the procurement procedure titled References to Bank stated that: “If the Borrower wishes to refer to the Bank in procurement documents, the following language shall be used:
“(name of Borrower) has received (or in appropriate cases „has applied for ) a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in various currencies equivalent to US Dollars toward the cost of (name of project), and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this loan to eligible payments under this contract.
“Payment by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be made only at the request of (name of Borrower or designate) and upon approval by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and will be subject, in all respects, to the terms and conditions of the Loan Agreement.
“The Loan Agreement prohibits a withdrawal from the Loan Account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of the Bank, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than (name of borrower) shall derive any rights from the loan agreement or have any claim to loan proceeds.”