Dr. Ousman Gajigo, a Gambian economist has slammed the government’s recent announcement of a contract with a Swiss company called SICPA to help the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) with tax revenue collection.
“Stripped of all contexts, there would be nothing wrong with such a contract. After all, having a modern system in place that enables better tax administration is important. And tax revenue is the most important source of domestic resource mobilization for development finance by the government. While there may be other issues with this decision, the most basic one involves the choice of contractor, SICPA,” observed the former Manager of the Microeconomic, Institutional, and Development Impact Division in the Research Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
He disclosed “SICPA is a Swiss company that has operated in several countries. It indeed has a track record in the sort of service in which it has ostensibly been contracted for in The Gambia. So, the issue is not the technical ability of the firm, but rather with its ethics of doing business. Corruption and bribery allegations have dogged this company for years. As recently as 2023, the company was fined more than $90 million by Swiss authorities for bribing foreign officials to get contracts. That fine was based on bribes SICPA paid in Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil.”
He disclosed further that in 2021, the company was fined about $150 million by Brazilian authorities for illegal activities. The company had to pay this fine for its unlawful activities there and as a condition for its ability to continue to operate in the country.
The former World Bank employee further disclosed that “in addition to bribery accusations for which it has been found liable, the company was also accused of money laundering and embezzlement.”
“The allegations of wrongdoing were not just limited to some low-level employees but extended to the CEO of the company who is also its majority shareholder. This means that these illegal activities by SICPA are not some isolated events that could be solved by firing some officials. Rather, it goes to the heart of the company and is a principal part of what it does. And because SICPA is a privately-held company, which means the financial details about the company are not opened to the public, there may be a lot more skeletons in its closet,” he pointed out.
