Three companies banned from World Bank contracts

KUWAIT: Three Gulf companies recently have been banned from working on projects associated with the World Bank under its corruption and fraud policy.

The firms are among 11 in the Middle East to be added to the list since January, and are on top of several, including two from the UAE, that have been permanently delisted since 2000. The Saudi base of international conglomerate ARINC will not be able to bid for contracts with the World Bank until October, 2015, after breaching procurement guidelines, while another Saudi company, Lavalin Fayez Co, has been blacklisted until April 2023, in one of the longest nonpermanent bans.

The Lavalin case extends to any entity it directly or indirectly controls, although the ban could be lifted after eight years if the company and its entities comply with the ban and implement conditions set by the World Bank.

Consulting Engineering Services in Oman was recently barred for five years for breaching the international bank’s consulting guidelines.

However, the company will be eligible to participate in Bank-financed activities in the final three years if it meets conditions including implementing an acceptable corporate compliance program, cooperating with the bank and complying with the terms and conditions of the contract.

The UAE companies permanently banned are Eastern Trading Ltd and Inter Emirates. There are no details to clarify whether the blacklisted firms are the same as companies with the same name still operating in Sharjah and Dubai, respectively.

The World Bank, which has funded about $200bn worth of projects in developing countries in the past five years, says companies are banned when they breach either its corruption or procurement procedures.

The bans also apply to the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, and African Development Bank under a mutual enforcement agreement.