Lavalin withdraws itself from Padma Bridge project

Munima SultanaSNC Lavalin Group Inc, the Canadian firm alleged with Padma Bridge corruption charges, has withdrawn its participation from the supervision consultancy of the mega project. Officials said SNC Lavalin has been excluded from the $47 million consultancy work, as the company has not extended the time of its proposal. They said except SNC Lavalin, all other short-listed companies - Helco, Aecom, HPR and Oriental Consultant - have extended the time of their technical and financial proposals up to November 30, as the time of their proposals was expired on September 30. "We received a regret letter from SNC Lavalin on the first week of this month, mentioning that it would not extend the time of proposal," said an official, confirming that the company is now no more in the bidding process. The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), the executing agency of the country's largest and costliest bridge project, earlier requested all of the short-listed companies to extend the time of their technical and financial proposals, as the selection was not completed by September 30. Earlier in July, the BBA's technical committee finalised selection of the short-listed companies, and sent the list for approval of the World Bank (WB), the coordinating financier of the multi-donor-funded project. Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) initiated an investigation against SNC Lavalin on corruption charges in early September. Following publication of the report on the Canadian police's investigation, the World Bank shared with the government another allegation of corruption in the bridge's bidding process. However, the WB is yet to provide any information on the case of SNC Lavalin. The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) also requested the WB's Integrity Department INT to share information on the allegation against SNC Lavalin, but it is yet to receive any reply from the department. According to website reports, Canadian authorities raided the offices of SNC Lavalin Group Inc outside Toronto in connection with the corruption allegation, though the RCMP declined to comment further about it. "It's part of an ongoing investigation and no charges have been laid to date," said Constable Julie Morel. The WB said the RCMP is conducting investigation against employees of SNC Lavalin for violations of Canadian law.