§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the ECGD to the companies who have been implicated in the bribery scandal in Lesotho in relation to the Lesotho Highlands Water Project requesting more information from them; [116776]
(2) if she will place in the Library a copy of the replies by Balfour Beatty, Kier International and Sterling International to the ECGD's letter with regard to corruption allegations in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. [116777]
§ Ms HewittECGD's Chief Executive wrote to these three companies with regard to allegations of bribery and corruption in respect of the Lesotho HWP. Two of them replied in writing to assure ECGD that they were not involved in any such activity. The third communicated the same response during a meeting. The letters will not be published under Part II Exemption 14(b) (Information Given in Confidence) of the Code of Practice of Access to Government Information.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what sources the ECGD uses to check the track record of a company it is considering giving support to. [116778]
§ Ms HewittECGD uses a wide range of sources of information, tailored to reflect to nature of the risks being assessed. Much of the information is available in the public domain and includes analysis of company accounts, rating agency reports and business information from reputable information sources.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the ECGD's procedures for examining whether there is a genuine cause for concern when allegations of corruption are made include contacting investigating authorities in the home country and requiring the company to provide detailed accounts and relevant documents. [116779]
§ Ms HewittECGD is obliged—like any other Government Department—to report any allegation of bribery and corruption it becomes aware of about any project in which it is involved to the National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS). NCIS are, in turn, responsible for reporting any allegation worthy of investigation to the authorities in the jurisdiction concerned.
ECGD may also make its own inquires, depending on the nature and circumstances of the allegation. These may involve accessing various sources of information, mainly in the public domain, contact with overseas posts, relevant authorities and the exporter.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the ECGD is entitled to pass on documentation that it receives from companies to investigatory authorities. [116780]
§ Ms HewittECGD is obliged—like any other Government Department—to report any allegation of bribery and corruption it becomes are of about any project in which it is involved to the National Criminal624W Investigation Service (NCIS). It undertakes to co-operate with any further investigation deemed necessary and if, as a result, ECGD is required by law to provide information to any investigatory authority, then ECGD will do so.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff there are in the ECGD's Internal Audit and Assurance Department. [116781]
§ Ms HewittThe Internal Audit service is provided by a combination of 6.5 members of staff and a contract with an external service provider.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies have had their books examined by the ECGD's Internal Audit and Assurance Department in the last five years. [116782]
§ Ms HewittECGD's Internal Audit and Assurance Division does not examine company accounts. The department has a Financial Analysis Unit, which is responsible for analysis of company accounts and assessing bank and corporate risk. This unit has assessed over 2,000 company accounts, mostly of overseas enterprises in the last five years.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many visits to exporters and how many site visits the ECGD's Internal Audit and Assurance Department made in each of the last five years. [116783]
§ Ms HewittIn the last five years ECGD's Internal Audit and Assurance Division has made 49 visits to exporters. The aim has been to review approximately 10 cases each year.
This has also involved two project site visits overseas and a number of visits to manufacturing plants.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times ECGD has refused cover because of evidence of corruption in the last five years. [116784]
§ Ms HewittECGD's procedures are designed to alert applicants to the seriousness of our commitment to combat bribery and corruption. There have been no occasions in the last five years where cover has had to be refused by ECGD due to allegations, suspicions or evidence of corruption.
However, we continue to maintain our vigilance over the life of all cases.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many projects were subject to post-issue monitoring by the ECGD's Guarantee Management Branch after September 2001. [116785]
§ Ms HewittSince its establishment, the Branch has carried out post issue monitoring on about 200 project cases.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of projects covered by the ECGD since September 2001 have proceeded on time and within cost. [116786]
625W
§ Ms HewittFor projects where the cover has been made available since September 2001, ECGD understands all are so far proceeding within the original cost. About 8 per cent. have required a time extension.
It is not unusual for the complex projects which ECGD supports to depart from the original timetable envisaged in the contract. Cost overruns or contractual delays are matters primarily to be resolved between the contractual parties, though ECGD may, as a result of such resolution, be asked to amend the terms of its support. ECGD does not, therefore, monitor this aspect across the whole range of its portfolio. However, ECGD does require notification of any such changes on individual cases, which might possibly affect the risk.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much agent's commission the ECGD covered on the sale of Hawk jets to South Africa; what percentage of the contract the commission represented; and where payment was made. [116787]
§ Ms HewittECGD's application process requires certain details of agents' commission to be disclosed to ECGD in order that it can follow its due diligence procedures. In this case such due diligence procedures were followed and no irregularities were detected. For reasons of commercial confidentiality specific details of the commission paid cannot be revealed.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of ECGD debt is interest payments. [116788]
§ Ms HewittAs at 31 March 2003 sovereign debt owing to ECGD under rescheduling agreements negotiated under the auspices of the Paris Club amounted to £9.6 billion. This debt portfolio consisted of £5.4 billion original debt £3.5 billion of capitalised interest and £700 million interest in arrears. Interest therefore accounts for some 44 per cent. of the total debt.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the ECGD gave investment insurance to(a) RP Godavari Power Ltd., (b) Rolls Royce Industrial Power and (c) Rolls Royce Plc for its investment in the Godavari Power Plant India. [116789]
§ Ms HewittECGD has not provided investment insurance to:
- (a) RP Godavari Power Ltd;
- (b) Rolls Royce Industrial Power; or
- (c) Rolls Royce Plc
for its investment in the Godavari Power Plant, India.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 12 May 2003,Official Report, column 16W, on the ECGD's Underwriting Committee, if she will make a statement on the two high potential impact cases which have received final approval from the Underwriting Committee, including (a) the location and (b) the project type in each case. [117082]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 5 June 2003]The two high potential impact cases that received final approval from ECGD's Underwriting Committee referred to in my previous answer were:626W
Project Location Type Nigeria LNG Plus—addition of trains 4 and 5
Bonny Island, Nigeria Oil and gas Marlim Sul Oilfield Project— supply of flexible pipe
Marlim Sul Oilfield, Brazil Oil and gas
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 12 May 2003,Official Report, column 15W, on the ECGD's sensitive cases mechanism, if she will make a statement on the two cases which have received final approval, including (a) the location and (b) the project type in each case. [117083]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 5 June 2003]The two cases that have been approved under ECGD's sensitive cases mechanism referred to in my previous answer were:
Project Location Type Nigeria LNG Plus—addition of trains 4 and 5
Bonny Island, Nigeria Oil and gas Marlim Sul Oilfield Project— supply of flexible pipe
Marlim Sul oilfield, Brazil Oil and gas
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 12 May 2003,Official Report, column 16W, on the covenants and conditions included in the ECGD loan agreements, if she will make a statement on the three cases which were issued guarantees with covenants and conditions relating to environmental and social impacts, including (a) the location and (b) the project type in each case. [117084]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 5 June 2003]The three cases in which covenants and other conditions relating to environmental and social impacts were included referred to in my previous question were
Project Location Type Nigeria LNG Plus—addition of trains 4 and 5
Bonny Island, Nigeria Oil and gas Marlim Sul Oilfield Project— supply of flexible pipe
Marlim Sul oilfield, Brazil Oil and gas Offshore exploration drilling Brazilian coast Oil and gas