A Vietnamese waste water treatment company has rejected accusations of fraudulent and collusive practices in two projects funded by the World Bank, saying it was unfairly debarred by the development lender.
Nguyen Phuong Quy, general director of SFC Vietnam Investment Development for Environment Company, on Wednesday told news website Zing that the company did not take part in the bidding process for the two projects.
The World Bank said in a statement late last week that SFC Vietnam and its affiliates will be debarred for a minimum of 10 years while Quy himself and any entity that he directly controls will be banned for a minimum of 11 years.
According to the bank, the debarment is based on evidence of fraudulent and collusive practices under the Project Preparation Technical Assistance Facility and the Da Nang Priority Infrastructure Investment projects. The former is aimed to increase the capacity of government entities to plan and prepare public investments efficiently.
Its investigation revealed the company provided “false experience-related documentation to an international bidder while cooperating with an international firm in preparing a fraudulent financial proposal, suppressing a conflict of interest and coordinating bids with an international competitor for a works contract.”
Quy told Zing that the company did not bid for the first project. As for the second project, it was Austria-based SFC Umwelttechnik GmbH, the parent company, that won the contract to build a waste water treatment facility in Da Nang’s Hoa Xuan Commune.
He said SFC Vietnam only offered advisory services and shared its experience in the Hoa Xuan project.
He denied giving false information to the parent company.
SFC Umwelttechnik GmbH has branches in different countries including the Czech Republic, China, and Vietnam. Its principal activities are planning and supplying water and waste water treatment processes for large and compact plants.
