One of the biggest Chinese construction companies in Botswana, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) faces an uncertain future after its two top managers, Xiaming Wang and Xiaoxiang Qui, were caught red-handed by secret agents last Thursday night as they allegedly bribed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Carter Morupisi, with a cash sum of P25O 000.
CCECC was the first Chinese company to work in Botswana. It came to the country in 1985 to rehabilitate the railway line as an aid project granted by the Chinese government and is widely regarded as the storm trooper of influx of Chinese contractors in Botswana.
The two managers of CCECC were on Friday arraigned before the Village Magistrates Court where they have been charged with a single count of “corrupting a public officer”.
According to the charge sheet, “the accused persons Xiaoming Wang and Xiaoxiang Qui on or about the 29th June 2011, at or near Gaborone ….., acting jointly and in concert with a common intent, endeavoured directly to influence Cater Morupisi, a public officer, namely Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, in respect of the duties of his office by giving him a sum of Two Hundred and Fifty thousand Pula (P250 000) so that he could assist them to complete a government construction project of Shakawe Senior Secondary School in the North West District, which project has defects and therefore does not meet required construction standards”.
The Chief Magistrate, Gennai Janson, who is presiding over the case, had to defer the morning hearing to the afternoon because there was no Chinese interpreter. The case prosecutor, Merapelo Mokgosi, of the Directorate of Public Prosecution, asked the court for fourteen days to complete investigations and records statements because “this is a fresh matter and investigations have just commenced”.
She asked the court to remand the duo in police custody pending completion of investigations, arguing that if granted bail they may skip the country to China.
Botswana does not have an extradition treaty with China.
The two defense counsels for the accused persons, Rahim Khan and Isaac Seloko, argued that their clients would not skip the country because of the huge projects that they have in the country.
Magistrate Janson denied the suspects bail and gave the investigators seven days to complete their investigations.
A plea was reserved and they will appeaser again for mention on the 7TH of this month.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation was established in 1979, according to the approval of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
As one of the pioneers performing international contracting and economic cooperation, CCECC has been developed from the earlier Foreign Aid Department of the Ministry of Railway (with the experience of executing the biggest foreign-aid project of China, the TAZARA) into a large-scale state-owned enterprise with Chinese national Super Grade qualification for project contracting.
With the strenuous efforts in the last two decades, its business scope expands from international contracting for railway construction to civil engineering design and consultancy, real estate development, trading, industrial investment and hotel management as well. The business activities of CCECC have spread over 40 countries and regions where more than 20 overseas offices or subsidiaries have been established. With its excellent performance and high quality in services, CCECC has been listed among the world’s top 255 international contractors for many years and ranked consecutively among the first 70 in recent years by the Engineering News Record “ENR”.
The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), which foiled the alleged attempted bribery by the two managers of CCECC, is understood to be investigating a number of Chinese contractors on suspicions of bribery.
DCEC Public Relations Officer, Lentswe Motshoganetsi, told the Sunday Standard that he could “neither deny nor confirm that DCEC is investigating Chinese construction companies that have been awarded government tenders”.
He, however, confirmed that, “it is true that there is a general concern from the public about the Chinese projects that often have structural defects after completion or still in construction and DCEC is keeping a close eye on those concerns”.
He further confirmed that the DCEC decided to send their employees to China to learn the language so that when they investigate cases involving Chinese nationals, it becomes easy for both the investigator and the suspects to communicate.
