World Bank bans Kenyan tech firm over fraud in Liberia project

Techno Brain offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi.




The World Bank has banned Kenyan IT firm, Techno Brain (Kenya) Limited and its United Arab Emirates(UAE)-based parent company Techno Brain Global FZ-LLC for fraud in an Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project in Liberia. The Kenyan unit will remain banned from World Bank supported projects for 28 months while its parent company will remain blacklisted for 10 months.



“The debarments make Techno Brain Kenya and Techno Brain UAE ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by institutions of the World Bank Group. It is part of a settlement agreement under which the companies acknowledge culpability and responsibility for the underlying sanctionable practices and agree to meet specified corporate compliance conditions as a condition for release from debarment,” the World Bank said in a statement.

The project, since renamed as the Public Financial Management Reforms for Institutional Strengthening, was designed to improve domestic revenue mobilisation systems and strengthen financial control and accountability in public finances.

According to the facts of the case, Techno Brain Kenya and Techno Brain UAE engaged in an arrangement to obtain and edit confidential bidding documentation so as to influence the awarding of a contract in their favor.

Source: Business Daily Africa