The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has blacklisted a locally registered civil engineering company over alleged fraud.
It has announced a 36-month debarment of Global Interjapan (Kenya) Limited , with effect from August 24, 2020.
In a statement, AfDB said investigations by its Integrity and Anti-Corruption office established that Global Interjapan (Kenya) Limited engaged in fraudulent practices during a tender for the bank-financed 'Small Scale Irrigation and Value Addition Project in Kenya'.
The debarment renders Global Interjapan (Kenya) Limited and its affiliates ineligible to participate in the bank's, financed projects during the debarment period.
Further, the debarment qualifies for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement 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.
“At the expiry of the debarment period, Global Interjapan (Kenya) Limited will only be eligible to participate in Bank Group-financed projects on condition that it implements an integrity compliance program consistent with the bank’s guidelines,” AfDB said on Tuesday.
The Small Scale Irrigation and Value Addition Project aimed at reducing poverty by enhancing agricultural productivity, income and food security among the residents of 11 counties in Kenya, and was co-financed by the African Development Bank, a constituent entity of the African Development Bank Group.
The Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption of the African Development Bank Group is responsible for preventing, deterring and investigating allegations of corruption, fraud and other sanctionable practices in Bank Group-financed operations.
The company is however said to have closed its Kenyan operations in 2013.
"The firm does not exist anymore. It ran into financial difficulties and closed," Joseph Chege, a former sales representative told the Star yesterday.
