Dutch authorities investigate companies suspected of paying bribes for Sri Lanka hospital projects

The Dutch Public Prosecutor suspects two companies of paying bribes in the construction of hospitals in Sri Lanka, according to an investigation by FD, the Dutch financial newspaper. 

Millions in bribes were allegedly paid in order to obtain the projects with a value of at least €100 million, probably to a high-ranking civil servant, the newspaper says, citing the judiciary. The bribe payments were allegedly concealed with forged contracts and invoices.

The article references The Sunday Times for the work this newspaper did on the story which involves the Dutch company Enraf-Nonius, a global medical equipment trader from Rotterdam, which won the construction contracts from the Sri Lankan government. 
The probe concerns three hospitals with a combined total of around two thousand beds, including a children's clinic that opened two years ago. The projects were financed by Rabobank and insured by the Dutch government with export credit insurance from Atradius Dutch State Business, FD says. 

The Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) has confirmed that the investigation is ongoing with raids being carried out in four countries last September. More than €2 million was seized.
The newspaper says the corruption investigation relates to transactions around the construction of three hospitals where payments flowed from a Rabobank (a Dutch bank) account of Enraf-Nonius to a company in the British Virgin Islands. It received approximately €5 million from several parties involved in the construction of the hospitals, including a small German construction company and an Australian multinational that provided technical services. 

The company is owned by Sri Lankan businessman Nimal Perera, the newspaper says. In addition to Enraf-Nonius, a second Dutch company is involved in the hospital projects. IPD, a development branch of the architectural firm AKM from Barendrecht, supervised and monitored the technical design and construction finances, among other things. IPD concluded assignment agreements with Enraf-Nonius for this purpose. IPD and its two directors are also suspects in the investigation by the Public Prosecution Service.

“The IPD directors acknowledge in a written response that from 2012 to early 2015 they transferred payments to a company that, as they learned 'only recently', may have been abused by Nimal Perera,” FD reports. “IPD states that payments were checked and approved in advance by Enraf-Nonius, and the procedure was discussed with Rabobank and the tax authorities.”