Gadkari: Probe case of US firm bribing NHAI officials

NEW DELHI: Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman on Tuesday to order an inquiry into the allegations of Boston-based consultancy firm, CDM Smith, paying $1.18 million bribe to authority officials for securing contracts.
NHAI has launched an internal investigation.
TOI on Tuesday reported how the company had admitted to the United States department of justice (DoJ) that its officials paid bribe to NHAI officials between 2011 and 2015 to "illegally" obtain contracts.NHAI website shows the company's India wing had got four contracts for construction supervision and preparing designs.
These projects were - Gwalior-Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, Talegaon-Amaravati, Tritchy-Kannur and Maharashtra-Karnataka border Sangareddy. At present, it has no operational contract from the highways authority. "In view the seriousness of the charges, NHAI has initiated an internal investigation into alleged payment of bribe money to its officials as reported in the media," an official statement from highways authority said. NHAI also said the company was debarred for three months in 2015 from participating/engagement in future bidding of its projects because of deficiency in services in one of the projects (Dholpur - Morena Section of NH-3). The debarment had nothing to do with the alleged payment of bribe, which has now surfaced after the company's admission.
Through its "self-disclosure" CDM Smith had submitted to the criminal division that 2-4% of the contract price were paid through fraudulent subcontractors, which rendered "no actual services" but the payments were routed through them "to solely benefit the officials". The company has agreed to pay $4.03 million to the US treasury department, the total profit it earned from these from "illegally obtained" works. The case has been closed by the justice department. The firm will pay the amount in instalments and the final payment will have to paid by October 1, 2017.