World Bank suspends Nigerian company, MD for corruption

The World Bank has suspended a Nigerian company SoftTech IT Solutions and Serviced and its Managing Director, Mr Isah Kantigi over corrupt practices.

In a statement published on its website on Wednesday, World Bank said the IT company and its MD were slammed with a 50-month and 60-month debarment respectively for “corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria”.

The debarment according to World Bank meant the company and Kantigi were ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the World Bank Group.

“They are the result of settlement agreements under which the company and Mr. Kantigi acknowledge their responsibility for the underlying sanctionable practices and agree to meet specified corporate compliance conditions as a condition for release from debarment,” the statement said.

“The project is designed to provide access to targeted cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system. According to the facts of the case, as an individual consultant, Mr. Kantigi made ‘appreciation’ payments to project officials as a reward for his receiving of a Bank-funded consultancy services contract. Mr. Kantigi also entered into an arrangement with other individual consultants and facilitated similar payments by them to project officials. This constitutes a corrupt practice under the World Bank’s Consultant Guidelines. 

“SoftTech, acting under the direction of Mr. Kantigi, who is also the company’s Managing Director, served as the conduit through which he and the other individual consultants made the payments to project officials. Under the arrangement, SoftTech received into its bank accounts multiple payments from the individual consultants and then transferred the funds into the personal accounts of the project officials, effectively serving as a financial intermediary for these consultants. 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 acknowledgment of the misconduct. As conditions for release from sanction under the terms of the settlement agreements, Mr. Kantigi commits to undertaking corporate ethics trainings 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.

“In addition, any affiliate that Mr. Kantigi or SoftTech controls, directly or indirectly, will be required to similarly implement a Code of Conduct and corporate ethics training program. Mr. Kantigi and the company also commit to continue to fully cooperate with the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency.  

“The debarments of Mr. Kantigi and of SoftTech both qualify for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks (MDBs) under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions that was signed on April 9, 2010.”