The African Development Bank (AfDB) has blacklisted Burhani Engineers Ltd an engineering, procurement, and construction company in Rwanda over improprieties including fraud and mismanagement.
The debarment makes Burhani Engineers Ltd., and its affiliates in Kenya and Uganda, and Tanzania ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the AfDB.
According to the Pan-African lender, Burhani Engineers Ltd based in along Ziniya road, Kicukiro district of Kigali, was required to increase access to electricity in rural areas of Uganda.
According to the facts of the case, Burhani Engineers Ltd. misrepresented its prior experience in multiple submissions in order to mislead the selection process and obtain contracts under the project, which constitute fraudulent practices under the AfDB’s procurement guidelines.
Meanwhile, China Henan International Cooperation Group Co., Ltd has also been blacklisted in Rwanda.
Kenya has the second-highest number of projects in Africa (Beta Trading Company, Aerospace Aviation, Burhani Engineers Ltd.) that have been sanctioned by the pan-African lender for breaches, underscoring huge concerns about unethical means used to award projects.
The Bank Group has a fiduciary and legal duty to ensure that funds are used for the purposes for which they were intended.
Where firms or individuals divert these funds to other uses through fraud, corruption and associated harmful practices (defined as ‘Sanctionable Practices’), the Bank Group exercises this fiduciary duty by sanctioning these entities through an administrative process.