National Treasury has banned global consultancy firm Bain & Co. from tendering for public sector contracts for a period of 10 years, citing fraud.
“The effective date of restriction is 5 September 2022 until 4 September 2032 for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices related to a SARS [SA Revenue Service] contract,” Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
The decision to ban the company comes seven weeks after the UK government banned it from competing for state contracts for three years.
Former Bain official, whistleblower Athol Williams, gave details to the state capture commission about how the consultancy firm had been instrumental in weakening various units of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) under the presidency of Jacob Zuma.
This left a previously strong government institution severely affected in how it gathered revenue, with top officials forced to leave Sars.
While National Treasury’s acting director-general, Ismail Momoniat, previously called on companies in the private sector to not to do business with Bain, Thursday’s announcement is the first time that Bain has been banned from public work in South Africa.
While Bain has acknowledged making “serious mistakes” in its work for SARS, it has consistently denied that its representatives “knowingly” participated in state capture or an effort to “damage SARS”.
It has also launched a legal challenge against its ban from state contacts in the UK.
Source: News24
