Monday 26 February 2018

World Bank debars Pakistani firms over power contracts collusion

Three companies have been debarred for engaging in collusive practices when bidding for contracts under a power project financed by the World Bank in Pakistan.

Lahore-based Pak Elektron Limited (PEL), its affiliates PEL Marketing Limited and Kohinoor Power Company Limited and Abdul Waheed Butt are ineligible to participate in World Bank-financed projects for 33 months.

The power project was designed to strengthen electricity distribution and transmission networks to better meet increasing demand as well as boost capacity.

An investigation found members of the group would decide in advance which among them would win particular contracts while setting the prices to be quoted in different World Bank-financed tenders.

Mr Butt was the chairman of the trade association - which PEL was part of – and presided over meetings that discussed and allocated two of the five contracts under the scheme.