₦airaland Forum

Zoomlion Was Debarred by World Bank for Bribery. It’s Lagos’ New Business Partner

Zoomlion, the company whose partnership the Lagos State Government wants to use to solve its waste management problem, was once debarred by the World Bank for bribing its way into securing a public contract, FIJ has found.

FIJ also found that in other African countries, where Zoomlion built its waste management business over the last two decades, the company has spent years defending itself against audit findings and litigation.

Lagos State Government recently entered into a partnership with Ghanaian waste management giant Zoomlion Ghana Limited to redevelop the Olusosun landfill, one of Africa’s largest dumpsites. Babatunde Sanwo-Olu, the state governor, signed the concessionaire with the company in May.

The state government says the partnership will modernise waste management and convert waste into economic value.

FIJ reviewed World Bank records, reports by Ghana’s Auditor General, government statements and official responses issued by the company.

WORLD BANK DEBARRED ZOOMLION OVER LIBERIA BRIBERY CASE
One of the more controversial episodes in Zoomlion’s corporate history occurred in September 2013, when the World Bank debarred the company for two years.

According to the World Bank, the sanction followed a Negotiated Resolution Agreement reached after investigations into the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project, a World Bank-funded project in Liberia.

GHANA’S AUDITOR GENERAL REPEATEDLY QUESTIONED SANITATION CONTRACTS
Beyond the debarment, Zoomlion has been getting the regulatory stick in Ghana through successive Auditor General reports looking into sanitation contracts funded by public money.

FIJ found a detailed audit report by the Ghanaian Government from 2019 — titled ‘REPORT OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL ON THE MANAGEMENT AND UTILISATION OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES’ COMMON FUND AND OTHER STATUTORY FUNDS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2019’ — which mentioned Zoomlion 151 times.

The auditors found contractual lapses that fell into two categories. The first involved instances where auditors said the company failed to supply equipment required under contracts despite continuing to receive payments. The second involved payments auditors questioned because they were made without valid contracts or for work that was not performed.

One of the clearer examples of contractual inconsistency in the report came in the Auditor General’s 2019 report on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF).

At the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipal Assembly (KEEA) in Ghana’s Central Region, auditors examined Zoomlion’s Sanitation Improvement Package contract and concluded that the company had not fully complied with its contractual obligations despite deductions continuing from the Assembly’s DACF allocation.

Under the contract, Zoomlion was expected to provide three skip trucks and 20 communal refuse containers. Auditors found only two skip trucks and 18 refuse containers had been supplied.

They also found that three of the 18 containers had become worn out without being replaced. Another two supplied skip trucks had remained off the road for nine months without being repaired or replaced.

Clause 5 of the agreement required defective equipment to be repaired or replaced “without delay”. The Auditor-General blamed the Assembly for failing to invoke the contractual remedies available to it but also recommended that Zoomlion refund GH¢310,500 already paid under the contract.

The same audit identified similar lapses — in the 13 regions in the country — across other sanitation contracts where assemblies continued paying despite receiving fewer refuse containers and skip trucks than required. The Auditor General recommended that payments should stop until the company complied with the contracts and that losses should be recovered where appropriate.

Subsequent audit reports in 2021 and 2022 documented how the entity did not supply refuse containers or trucks per the service agreements. An analysis of the audit reports found that between 2017 and 2020, Ghana’s Auditor General questioned at least GH¢40.5 million in payments to the company.

AntiChristian:
Ah!

Oma se ooooooooooooooo!

But that's in the past!

They may be good now!

Schooljob1:
Yes o
It's is in the past. They're not just good now but the best. Their sins have been forgiven as they joined with APC.

Macphenson:
The kind of credentials, dubious character and antecedents associated with them is exactly what is sort after in Nigeria, so expect more contracts for them.

BarrElChapo:
Let’s not act surprised, it’s Tinubu’s Lagos

Bankowner:
This is the same way Visionscape Sanitation Solutions was contracted to manage waste collection in the same Lagos some 7 years ago. A company that had no record of doing any business other than a newly created website linking them to a company in the Middle East.

It wasn't long before the Vision fizzled out of the scape. I will wait to see how long Zoomlion will last competing with existing PSP operators.

DaddyJapan:
Zoomlion Was Debarred by World Bank for Bribery. It’s Lagos’ New Business Partner



https://fij.ng/article/zoomlion-was-debarred-by-world-bank-for-bribery-its-lagos-new-business-partner/

ijayalolo:
I don't know about financial "cutting corners" (all corporations do it anyway, na who dem catch be barawo) but in terms of doing their refuse job well, the company is top notch. They have been operating in Ghana for years and doing well till today.



Thank you for your attention to this matter

AntiChristian:
Ah!

Oma se ooooooooooooooo!

But that's in the past!

They may be good now!

Tenses:
Oga please employ me. Nobody sabi the work pass me but I dey thief like every workers dey do.

Will you employ such person?