Without a detailed procedure for existing buildings, engineers inspecting damage from leaks over the years on the Elliot Lake mall in Ontario, whose roof section collapse killed two employees last year, were limited to following the owner’s dictates instead of a prescribed professional standard. And as the years wore on, the instructions from Robert Nazarian, owner of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, northwest of Toronto, depended on one consideration: his bottom line.That was a rough consensus that emerged from engineers and witnesses called to the long weeks of testimony before a commission of inquiry convened to investigate the
An informal, multi-state network of companies and brokers appears to be involved in fraudulently produced Chubb surety bonds discovered earlier this year and other controversial surety practices, according to interviews with small contractors that have lost premiums paid for the bonds.
Related Links: SKM July 25 World Bank Settlement Announcement SKM Global Code of Conduct UK's BS 10500 Anti-Bribery Management System Link to World Bank Sanctions Board decisions The World Bank has agreed to allow Australia-based engineer Sinclair Knight Merz to continue bidding on bank-financed global work under a July 24 pact that settles "improper payment" issues on past projects that the firm itself discovered and reported.SKM, which found the problems on unidentified projects in Southeast Asia and pointed them out last year, has terminated persons believed to be responsible for the ethical breaches and expanded anti-corruption programs throughout the company.Neither
The owner of a South Carolina paving contractor recently pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit money laundering through a scheme to hide assets from surety after he couldn’t finish work on a road project for the South Carolina Department of Transportation.Marlon Weaver, owner of Conway, S.C.-based Weaver Co. Inc., was awarded a contract in September 2008 for paving and asphalt on SCDOT Project I-95 Rehabilitation Dillon-Florence Counties. Safeco Insurance Co. of America provided performance and payment bonds and a general indemnity agreement for the job.Weaver’s company was hired to do concrete patching, asphalt work and bridge approach
Image courtesy South African Government Services The investigation revealed more than 300 incidents of collusion, including on World Cup soccer-stadium projects, such as the $460-million Green Point venue in Cape Town. Related Links: South Africa Toasts Itself With 2010 World Cup South Africa will fine 15 construction firms a total of more than $151 million as part of agreements reached last month that settle bid-rigging claims related to at least $4.8 billion worth of projects.The Competition Commission of South Africa said the companies "colluded to create the illusion of competition by submitting sham tenders ('cover pricing') to enable a fellow
Related Links: Justice Dept. press release Contrack International Inc., a McLean,Va.-based construction company, has agreed to pay the U.S. government $3.5 million to settle allegations the company submitted false claims related to U.S. Agency for International Development water and wastewater project contracts in Egypt in the 1990s. The Dept. of Justice, which announced the settlement on July 12, said bidders for the contracts were required to be precertified and, in some cases, prove that they were U.S. companies. In a lawsuit filed in 2004, the DOJ contended that members of a joint venture that won the USAID contracts—Contrack, Washington Group
BRW, Australia Firm submitted inflated and disallowed costs on a tsunami rebuild-consulting contract, which was completed in 2010. Related Links: Link to World Bank Sanctions Board decisions SNC-Lavalin Debarred from World Bank Work for a Decade (subscription) The World Bank debarred Sydney, Australia-based GHD Pty Ltd. and two Indonesia subsidiaries last month from bank-financed projects for one year after a review found the local units and a sub-consultant had overbilled on a now-completed consulting contract for post-tsunami reconstruction.The bank's June 10 sanction does not apply to projects financed by other multi-lateral funding institutions under a "cross-debarment agreement," says a bank
The Dept. of Justice charged a former Alberici Constructors Inc. vice president and another man over an alleged kickback scheme that prosecutors say cost the company $4.8 million.A federal grand jury in St. Louis, where Alberici is based, indicted former vice president, Clone Jefferson Oliver, and Georgia businessman Kenneth Simmons June 13.Oliver (aka Jeff Oliver or J.J. Clone) and Simmons are also defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by Alberici in April 2011 on similar claims of a fraudulent kickback scheme. The civil lawsuit has yet to be resolved.The criminal charges are the result of investigations by the Federal Bureau
Norr Engineering Testimony at a commission of inquiry shows mall owner's unusual approach to repairing the mall's leaky roof. Related Links: Elliot Lake Commission Inquiry Testimony Engineer Cited in Fatal Ontario Mall Rooftop-Garage Collapse Set to Plead Not Guilty Where once it looked like the entire blame for a fatal mall roof section collapse in northern Ontario last June would rest on the shoulders of a single engineer and his employer, testimony given in Toronto at a special provincial inquiry about the accident now shows a series of missteps and sloppy practices that may have contributed to the disaster.Testimony presented
Ontario Commission of Inquiry Robert Wood, former president of M.R. Wright & Associates, testifies at commission of inquiry hearing into the fatal 2012 mall roof collapse. Related Links: Testimony Shows Complex Roots of Deadly Mall Collapse (subscribers only) A communication breakdown at an Ontario engineering firm contributed to flaws in an inspection that failed to detect weaknesses in a mall roof before it collapsed.The engineer who wrote a report based on a visual inspection, stating that the mall roof was sound in May only weeks before the roof slab collapsed last June 23, killing two women inside, also had a