On June 24, 2020, the World Bank Group announced the conditional seven-year debarment of Sao Bac Dau Technologies Corporation , a Vietnamese Internet technology services company. According to the World Bank, Sao Bac Dau staff improperly influenced the tendering process on two urban development projects in Vietnam, including by falsifying a letter of support in a bid for one of the projects. Sao Bac Dau staff also failed to disclose its involvement in the upstream work of the two projects. During its debarment period, Sao Bac Dau is ineligible to participate in World Bank projects, and is subject to cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks.
The company issued a separate letter noting its ongoing cooperation with the World Bank, and stating that it had disciplined or dismissed the staff involved, dissolved the units directly related to the two projects, and revised the tender process to ensure transparency moving forward. As a result of this cooperation and remediation, the World Bank reduced Sao Bac Dau’s debarment period from nine to seven years, and may reduce it further if the company continues to cooperate with the World Bank, and implements a compliance program consistent with the World Bank Group Integrity Compliance Guidelines.
June 29, 2020