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ARTICLE · 02 MARCH 2021

Multilateral Development Banks And Integrity: Know The Rules Of The Road

Mayer Brown
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Towards the end of 2020, the World Bank Group (WBG) debarred Berky GmbH, a German engineering company, and Aktor Technical Société Anonyme...

United KingdomGovernment, Public Sector
Sam Eastwood
Sam Eastwood
Paul Whitfield-Jones
Paul Whitfield-Jones
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Towards the end of 2020, the World Bank Group (WBG) debarred Berky GmbH, a German engineering company, and Aktor Technical Société Anonyme, a Greek construction company, in unrelated cases concerning their conduct in bids for projects in (respectively) Myanmar and Colombia. These cases provide a valuable reminder to companies bidding for projects financed by multilateral development banks (MDBs) about the integrity compliance risks associated with them:

  • Debarment by an MDB can have a severe impact on a company that can extend beyond just the projects financed by that MDB. Debarment by one MDB can incur "cross-debarment" by other MDBs, as has happened in the case of Berky and Aktor, and reputational loss more generally. In 2020, the WBG debarred 267 firms and individuals globally.

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