SNC 76

The Statement of Charges and Evidence prepared by the Office of Institutional Integrity ("OII") contained OII’s charges alleging that the Respondent, a company that was awarded contracts in connection with the Program, had participated, through its chief executive officer and legal representative (“CEO”), in the following prohibited practices:

• Corrupt practices, by (i) engaging in a retainer type of relationship with a public official during the award and execution of contracts related to the Program and (ii) agreeing to pay and pay success fees to a local agent to curry favor for the Respondent with such agent’s contacts in Barbados and obtain favorable treatment in connection with contracts related to the Program.
• Fraudulent practices, by failing to disclose (i) a conflict of interest resulting from the Respondent’s business dealings with such public official during the procurement and award of a contract related to the Program and (ii) success fees paid, or to be paid, to said local agent in an attempt to conceal the corrupt scheme established with such local agent in Barbados.

Consequently, and in accordance with the Sanctions Procedures, the Sanctions Officer issued a Notice of Administrative Action (the “Notice”) to the Respondent. In its response to the Notice, the Respondent contested the charges brought by OII. Following the issuance of the Notice and reviewing the Respondent’s response, the Sanctions Officer issued a Determination finding that it was more likely than not that the Respondent had participated in corrupt and fraudulent practices and imposed a seven-year debarment on the Respondent.

The Respondent appealed the Sanction Officer’s Determination to the Sanctions Committee (the “Committee”).

Following a de novo review of the record, the Committee concluded that it was more likely than not that the Respondent, acting through its CEO, engaged in corrupt and fraudulent practices. Consequently, the Committee imposed on the Respondent the sanction of debarment for a period of seven years, during which time the Respondent will be ineligible to participate in any activity or project financed by the IDB Group, receive any amount from loans made by the IDB Group, and participate in the preparation or execution of any project financed by the IDB Group. In determining the sanction, the Committee considered the following aggravating factors: repeated pattern of conduct; management role in the misconduct; use of sophisticated means; damage caused to IDB Group operations (including reputational damage to the integrity of the procurement process); and the fraudulent practices charges. Additionally, the Committee considered the passage of time as a mitigating factor.

This sanction is subject to cross-debarment by the Multilateral Development Banks signatories to the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions.