· Firm allegedly indicted for $81m bribery scandal in home country
· Stakeholders allege under hand dealing, lack of transparency
· We did no wrong, SICPA handles 80% global track & Trace contracts- ICRC
Widespread anger and resentment have greeted the decision by the Infrastructure, Concession, Regulatory Commission (ICRC) led by Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh to issue a letter of “No Objection” Certificate to a Swiss-based company Société Industrielle et Commerciale de Produits Alimentaires, (SICPA) as the sole company for the deployment of security stamps across the country without going open and competitive bidding process.
In the last two years, the firm’s reputation has been tainted by allegations of systemic illegal practices and investigations in several countries.
The certificate enables the Swiss-based security and Ink manufacturing company to collect taxes on manufactured consumer products through a process known as “Track-and-Trace”. This development has drawn the flak of local manufacturers and producers including members of the organized private sector including the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Commerce and Agriculture (NACCIMA) as well as operators in the financial sector of the economy.
“It is regrettable, that the ICRC acting on the advise of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will secretary endorse a foreign based company with questionable transactions and business records to be the sole collector of Track and Trace Revenue on behalf of the Federal government without going through due process and contrary to the laid down rules and regulations and the extant laws in Nigeria”, said Dr Jumoke Alarie, a Bayelsa state based Plastics and consumer goods manufacturer
While seeing nothing wrong in the planned revenue collection move, she however, asked the federal government to call the concerned agencies to order and ensure that the selection process follows transparently.
In the same vein, Chief Okikiomo Olumo, Chairman/Chief Executive of Sonia Foods Limited, Ogun state urged the federal government to re-examine its decision to engage the Swiss security ink manufacturing company in view of its alleged bad image in its home country, Switzerland. The Ijebu Chief wondered why the federal government would secretly select such a company to do business in Nigeria at a time when the government is fighting corruption and economic crimes in the country.
New National Star gathered that the Track and Trace policy is one of the efforts by the federal government to boost its revenue generation and discourage external borrowing. The policy entails stamping consumer and industrial products manufactured in the country with the taxes passed on to the final consumer by manufacturing companies.
Although many Nigerians see the federal government decision as a step in the right direction, they however fault the secrecy surrounding the process and the selection of SICPA for the project without subjecting it to a transparent bidding process. They also wonder why indigenous Nigerian companies were not invited to bid for the contract.
Mr. Cletus Ojiakor, a Lagos based business man wondered why “of all the companies in the world, a company with a dented public image like SICPA would be preferred by the ICRC and the Federal Ministry of Finance against other qualified companies in Nigeria and outside the country. He wondered about the criteria used for the “No Objection” certification by the ICRC in the selection of the company for the implementation of the project.
But reacting to the development, a top management staff of the Infrastructure Concession, Regulatory Commission (ICRC), said the commission did nothing wrong in selecting SICPA as the preferred bidder for the Track and Trace Revenue tax project. Pleading anonymity, he told New National Star correspondent on the phone that SICPA is a well-known firm on Track and Trace and that the company handles 80% of such contracts in the world. He said that given the company’s tract record, there was no way the ICRC would not have given it a Certificate of No Objection. He also confirmed that SICPA had sponsored the Commission officials and others on a due diligence mission to Switzerland. However, when told that the company was found guilty of bribery by a Swiss Court in 2023, he declined to speak further. The ICRC is responsible for overseeing and regulating Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Nigeria.
A search on the internet revealed that SICPA is a Swiss family-owned technology company with an international footprint, operating sites, and production facilities on all continents. The company was founded in 1927 in Lausanne, Switzerland
The search further revealed that the company was convicted and fined CHF 81 million for organizational deficiencies and bribery by the Swiss Office Of The Attorney General (OAG), as the OAG finally concluded its investigation and produced a penalty order for acts of bribery.
The proceedings identified the organisational deficiencies that made it possible for employees of SICPA to bribe public officials in the conduct of business in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
According to media reports, this was based on recommendations to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) through a proposal by Kibo Laboratories LLC, based in Washington DC.
The sanctioning of SICPA was for the acknowledged “organisational deficiencies” between 2008 and 2015, which relate to old actions undertaken without the company’s consent and against its interest.
A statement from the Communications Service of the OAG reads in part: “With the penalty order issued in accordance with Art. 102 para. 2 SCC in conjunction with Art. 322septies SCC, SICPA SA (SICPA) has acknowledged that it failed to take all necessary and reasonable organisational precautions to prevent bribes to foreign public officials. The OAG has accordingly ordered the company to pay a fine of CHF 1 million and imposed an equivalent claim for compensation amounting to CHF 80 million under Art. 71 para. 1 SCC.”
Other countries where SICPA is alleged to be currently undergoing a probe include Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Senegal, Vietnam, and Ukraine.
“In the penalty order, the OAG finds the former sales manager of SICPA, who took advantage of the deficiencies, guilty of bribery of foreign public officials under Art. 322septies SCC. He is being sentenced to a conditional prison term of 170 days. The order states that he paid bribes to high-ranking officials in the Colombian and Venezuelan markets between 2009 and 2011”, it was further stated.
SICPA, it was learnt, accepted the measure of the sanction but disagreed with its grounds, due to the absence of penal measures in the countries where the offences were allegedly committed.
In a side letter from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office BA, Urs Köhli, the OAG elaborates: “The company’s responsibility does not mean that SICPA SA itself committed these infringements perpetrated by former employees or consultants, nor that it wanted or accepted them. Since then, SICPA SA has voluntarily and fully addressed this organisational deficiency”.
SICPA maintained that it was not aware of such acts before they were notified and that as soon as they were brought to its attention, SICPA sanctioned those responsible. Also, in Brazil, the individuals whose convictions had required SICPA to execute a leniency agreement were acquitted on 8 June 2022. In the other two countries referred to in the OAG’s decision, SICPA was never prosecuted or even informed of any offence.
It was also noted that SICPA and its former employee have declared that they will not be appealing against the penalty orders, which will be legally binding. SICPA regretted that an internal lack of organisation may have led to actions considered by the OAG as unethical.
Following the above revelations, stakeholders in the manufacturing and financial sectors of the Nigerian economy contend that in view of the sensitivity of the issues around revenue generation in Nigeria, they expect the federal government to reconsider and reject a partnership with SICPA on revenue collection, to avoid being caught in the web of corrupt practices already engulfing the brand.
According to MAN, in a statement, it issued recently, “involving SICPA in a revenue generation contract may further fuel and substantiate the notion that corruption is deep-rooted and a subsisting phenomenon in Nigeria.
“A government that seeks to improve its credibility before its citizens, the international community, and Corruption Index must not turn a blind eye to the untoward business operations of companies and business partners in other jurisdictions Engaging and working with a Company like SICPA simply brings the reputation of the President Tinubu’s government to disrepute, an image it can also not afford to have as it makes concerted efforts to fight corruption and other economic and financial crimes in the country”.