SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd., a Nigerian information technology solution company, and its Managing Director, Mr Isah Kantigi, have been sanctioned by the World Bank for alleged corrupt conduct.
This was disclosed in a statement titled ‘World Bank Group debars SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd. and its managing director.’
The firm, which was involved in the National Social Safety Nets Project, was debarred for 50 months while the managing director was sanctioned for 60 months.
What the Bank is saying
The statement read in part, “The World Bank Group today announced the 50-month debarment of SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd., an information technology solutions company based in Nigeria, and the 60-month debarment of its managing director, in connection with corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.
SoftTech and Mr. Isah Salihu Kantigi, are now ineligible to engage in World Bank Group-funded projects and operations. According to the World Bank, the debarments are the result of settlement agreements in which the corporation and Mr. Kantigi acknowledge their responsibility for the underlying sanctionable conduct.
Under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions, which was signed on April 9, 2010, Mr. Kantigi’s and SoftTech’s debarments are both eligible for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks (MDBs).
Any affiliate that Mr. Kantigi or SoftTech controls, directly or indirectly, will also be obliged to create a Code of Conduct and corporate ethics training program, according to the World Bank.
What you should know
- Mr. Kantigi made “appreciation” payments to project authorities as an individual consultant, according to the circumstances of the case, as a reward for winning a Bank-funded consultation services contract.
- Mr. Kantigi also worked out a deal with other individual consultants, allowing them to make similar payments to project officials.
- According to the World Bank’s Consultant Guidelines, this is a corrupt activity.
- Mr. Kantigi, who is also the company’s Managing Director, directed SoftTech to act as the conduit through which he and the other individual consultants made payments to project officials. SoftTech collected various payments from individual consultants into its bank accounts and subsequently moved the monies to the project officials’ personal accounts, essentially serving them.
The World Bank said, “This constitutes a corrupt practice under the World Bank’s Anti-Corruption Guidelines. The settlement agreements provide for reduced periods of debarment in light of Mr. Kantigi’s and SoftTech’s cooperation and acknowledgement of the misconduct.”
The Bank added, “As conditions for release from sanction under the terms of the settlement agreements, Mr. Kantigi commits to undertaking corporate ethics training that demonstrate a commitment to personal integrity and business ethics, while SoftTech commits to implementing a code of conduct that reflects the relevant principles set out in the World Bank Group Integrity Compliance Guidelines and a corporate ethics training program.”
