– An important reason was the then ownership – E24

Just before Christmas, E24 wrote that the public company Nedre Romerike Avløpsselskap (NRA) will award a NOK 217 million contract to build a biogas plant for the Efacec company, which for much of the bidding process was controlled by Isabel dos Santos.

Dos Santos is the daughter of the former president of Angola, known as the richest woman in Africa, and for the past year she has been at the center of the global corruption scandal Luanda Leaks.

During the bidding process at Romerike, dos Santos’ funds were frozen in Angola and Portugal, and she was charged with embezzlement and money laundering. Dos Santos sat as the largest owner of Efacec until July 2020, when the Portuguese state stepped in and took over its actions to save the company.

The decision to submit the offer to Efacec was appealed by one of the other bidders in the tender.

The NRA’s legal assessment, prepared by one of Norway’s leading experts on public procurement, is that the corruption allegations against dos Santos have provided no reason to reject Efacec. The NRA’s assessment is supported by another subject matter expert, attorney Robert Myhre (see case below).

Dos Santos has denied all the allegations, claiming that she was subjected to a politically motivated attack by the new Angolan regime.

Rejected

At the same time Efacec was approved and given the green light to participate in the Romerike public tender, the private company Biokraft AS was doing similar work:

At Skogn in Trøndelag, Biokraft operates the world’s largest plant for the production of liquefied biogas. About a year ago, they were looking for suppliers for “Skogn II”. The project will expand production at the biogas plant and has a cost framework of around NOK 200 million.

Efacec was one of the companies that submitted an offer for the development, but Biokraft put its foot in the company. An important reason was the ownership of Efacec. This is confirmed by Håvard Wollan, CEO of Biokraft AS, at E24.

At the time the decision was made, Efacec was owned by Isabel dos Santos.

– Not relevant to cooperate

“We received several competitive offers for the Skogn II factory project. We carried out exhaustive investigations of all relevant factors that affected potential suppliers, and after a general assessment we concluded that Efacec was not a relevant partner for us, even though they were competitive in price and technical specifications. ” Wollan writes in an email to E24.

Wollan further writes that he cannot comment on evaluations made by other companies, but that it was “inappropriate for Biokraft to cooperate with Efacec at the time we made our decision on a supplier of Skogn II.”

“A major reason was the then ownership of Efacec,” Wollan writes.

The “Forest II” contract went to the Vancouver-based company Andion. The expansion of the biogas plant will be completed in 2021 and 2022.

– No serious errors are documented

Unlike Biokraft, the publicly owned Nedre Romerike Avløpsselskap (NRA) must follow regulations for public procurement.

The NRA’s clear assessment is that the corruption scandal and accusations against Isabel dos Santos at no point in the bidding process provided grounds for rejecting Efacec from the bidding in accordance with the procurement rules.

In a letter addressed to the Cambi company, which participated in the tender and has appealed the NRA’s decision to the Board of Public Procurement Appeals (KOFA), the NRA writes that “Based on the information available on the scandal corruption, it is not sufficiently documented that a serious error was made. by Isabel dos Santos / Efacecs, which means that it can be concluded that the client has the right to reject Efacec in accordance with the contracting regulations.

The NRA letter is written by attorney Marianne H. Dragsten, a partner at the firm Vaar and one of Norway’s leading experts on public procurement.

Get expert support

Attorney Robert Myhre, another expert in the field and former head of the KOFA secretariat, supports the NRA’s assessment. Speak on the basis of E24 case coverage.

“From what I’ve read in the article, the sewer company seems to be right,” Myhre writes in an email.

It points out that the obligation to reject a company for corruption only arises if the company, or people from the company’s governing bodies, have been convicted or have adopted a fine. Neither dos Santos nor Efacec have been convicted of corruption.

However, the regulations grant the right to reject a company when “the client can document that the supplier has made serious mistakes that put his professional integrity in doubt.”

“Given the [dos Santos’] representative has resigned from the board, I am skeptical whether there would be such a right, “Myhre writes to E24, and further:

“Extensive documentation would also be required to show that the person who sat on the board on her behalf was her ‘outstretched arm’ and that she was therefore sitting in a main body. In other words, it is not enough that a suspected or accused person in a financial case has an equity interest in the company. “

E24 was unable to obtain a comment from Efacec that they were unwanted as a supplier to Biokraft.

Efacec declined to comment on the case related to Romerike’s tender when E24 contacted them before Christmas. Efacec stated that the processing of the complaint sent to KOFA should be allowed to take place.