WB Group announces non-debarment of Golden Maritime Technology

The World Bank Group has announced the six-month conditional non-debarment of Bangladesh-based Golden Maritime Technology (GMT) in connection with a fraudulent practice under the World Bank-financed Urban Resilience Project in Bangladesh. The announcement came on Wednesday, said a press release.

The Urban Resilience Project is designed to strengthen the capacity of government agencies to respond to emergency events and reduce the vulnerability of new building construction to natural disasters in Dhaka and Sylhet.

The sanction of conditional non-debarment means that the GMT will remain eligible to participate in projects and operations financed by institutions of the World Bank Group provided that it complies with its obligations under the settlement agreement. If these obligations are not satisfied within a six-month period, the conditional non-debarment will convert to a sanction of debarment with conditional release.

Then the company will become ineligible to participate in World Bank Group-financed activities until the conditions for release set out in the settlement agreement are met.

According to the facts of the case, GMT entered into an agreement to prepare a bid on behalf of another company and submitted unauthorized documents with falsified signatures as part of the bidding process. These actions constitute a fraudulent practice under the World Bank Group procurement guidelines. The settlement agreement provides for a reduced period of sanction in light of GMT's cooperation and voluntary remedial actions.

As a condition for release from sanction under the terms of the settlement agreement, GMT commits to strengthening its integrity compliance programme in line with the principles set out in the World Bank Group Integrity Compliance Guidelines.

The company also commits to continue to fully cooperate with the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency.