Canadian firm which did study on Reko Diq blacklisted by World Bank

The News 21 Sept 2013 WASHINGTON: The Canadian company which carried out the controversial feasibility study into the multi-hundred billion dollars Reko Diq gold and copper mines in Pakistan has now been declared by the World Bank as the world’s most corrupt corporation and blacklisted in dozens of countries. According to the blacklist of the World Bank released two days ago, out of the 250 companies, 119 belong to this one Canadian giant, LNC-Lavalin, which has the highest number of corrupt and fraudulent companies.After the 119 Canadian companies, 46 US firms, 43 Indonesian, over 20 Chinese and even one Pakistani company have also been blacklisted. The Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc appears on the list 58 times as a Canadian subsidiary and 14 times as an American company, with many more SNC subsidiaries named all over the world. It has been banned in Malaysia, Malta, Saudi Arabia, US, Canada, Algeria, Angola, Austria, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Egypt, India, Dominican Republic, Russia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Korea, Barbados, Mongolia, Panama, Peru, Brazil, Peuto Rico, South Africa and Uruguay. Lavalin officials are accused of bribing officials in many countries and at least $56 million were doled out to these corrupt officials for various favours and illegal things that the company was involved in. Lavalin carried out the feasibility report on the Reko Diq mines on behalf of Barrick Gold at a cost of US$70 million in recent years but that report was kept a secret from Pakistan.The widespread corruption done by the company raises a host of questions about their work in Pakistan and why the feasibility report was never made public or even not revealed to the Pakistan government in full. When I asked the spokesperson for Lavalin about this feasibility report a few months back, I got this official version: “Here is the answer from Leslie Quinton, spokesperson for SNC-Lavalin: Our apologies for the delay responding to your email. We had to gather the information in order to answer you. Yes, we were involved in this study. It was actually for Tethyan Copper (a joint venture of Barrick and Antofagasta), and the mandate was carried out between 2008 and 2012. “Unfortunately, as per our internal policy, we cannot comment on the value of our services as it is usually confidential between us and our client.” Signed Lilly Nguyen.The Canadian police two days back charged a former senior executive of Lavalin and two influential Bangladeshi businessmen and lobbyists with bribery related to the $3-billion Padma Bridge in Bangladesh. The RCMP announced on Wednesday they have laid bribery charges under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act against Canadian Kevin Wallace, former senior vice president of SNC-Lavalin International Inc (SLII), a division based in Oakville, Ont., that has recently been disbanded. Also charged are Zulfiqar Ali Bhuiyan, a Canadian citizen with business ties in Bangladesh, and Abul Hasan Chowdhury a prominent lobbyist in Bangladesh. Two lower-level SNC-Lavalin employees, Mohammad Ismail and Ramesh Shah, are already awaiting trial in Toronto facing similar allegations that they conspired to pay bribes to help Lavalin win a supervising contract worth $50 million for the Padma Bridge mega project. Riadh Ben Aissa, who was charged by Canadian authorities in November with fraud and corruption, arranged the massive payments to Saadi Gadhafi, 38, described as a friend of Ben Aissa who is in jail in Switzerland for suspicion of money laundering and bribery linked to at least two Canadian projects. A spokesperson for SNC-Lavalin has been quoted by some media outlets as saying some employees were suspended as a result of investigation but other parts of the company were not affected.