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JOHANNESBURG - The successful conviction of a Lesotho official on bribery charges would strengthen the cases against multinational construction firms behind the inducements, says Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa's Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry.

Last week the Lesotho high court convicted former Lesotho Highlands Development Authority chief executive Masupha Sole on 13 counts relating to bribes from consortiums bidding for contracts in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

The Highlands Water Venture consortium, consisting of Impregilo of Italy, Hochtief of Germany, Bouygues of France, Stirling and Kier International of the UK, and Concor and Group 5 of South Africa, allegedly paid Sole US$350 000 before being awarded the Katse Dam contract.

Concor and Bouygues are now in the running for the R7 billion Gauteng Rapid Rail Link project. Other South African companies mentioned in the trial are Basil Read and Grinaker-LTA.

Some of the world's top civil engineering and construction firms involved in the trial include: Dumez International; Cegelec, a partnership that included CGE-Alstom and General Electric; Coyne et Bellier; Sogreah and Spie Batignolles of France; Lahmeyer International and Asea Brown Boveri Schaltanlagen of Germany; Asea Brown Boveri Generation of Sweden; Acres International of Canada; and Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners of the UK.

No decision had yet been made on whether or not the individual members of the consortiums would be charged, according to counsel for the prosecution Guido Penzhorn.

Impregilo, as the lead partner in the Highlands Water Venture, was originally charged as a co-accused in the trial, but the Lesotho appeal court found that a provision in Lesotho's Criminal Procedures Act allowing consortiums to be charged should be ignored.

The Gauteng government has said it would not hesitate to exclude companies from the tender process if they were found guilty of bribery.

Kasrils congratulated his Lesotho counterpart, Monyane Moleleki, and his government on the conviction. He said the South African government supported Lesotho's efforts to curb corruption.

The Sole trial was an important test case for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), which aims to promote good governance and weed out corruption.

"The successful prosecution of Sole should E also facilitate the recovery of the bribes from the parties who paid Sole."Although the bribes were small in comparison with the capital investment, the authorities are determined to recover the money from the parties who paid Sole."

Kasrils said the case had exposed a "clique of parties and individuals" that participated in the malpractices and methods used, including so-called "representation agreements" to conceal acts of bribery.

He would be briefing colleagues on the implications of the case for the participation of international and local companies in publicly funded projects in the future. - International Rivers Network

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