In the continuation of combating corruption and addressing the waste of public money, Parliament reveals the details of one of the biggest cases of wasting public money in the only state-owned company in the field of cement production, which is the National Cement Company affiliated with the Ministry of Business Sector and the Holding Company for Chemical Industries.
Details of the case being investigated by the Higher Public Funds Prosecution, headed by Counselor Ahmed Al-Bahrawi, began with information reported to the public funds investigators headed by Major General Essam Saad, stating that there are major irregularities in the National Cement Company centered in the tender for the technical department of production lines 3 and 4 and the tender for supplying 250 tons of hex chrome, and these violations caused a waste of public money as the company is state-owned.
As a result of the investigations conducted by the Public Funds Investigation Department, the Board of Directors issued a tender to manage production lines "3 and 4" under the name of technical management, operation and maintenance works.
The investigations added that the tender brochures were presented and 4 companies submitted to it: the International Construction Company, the Arab Swiss Engineering Company (ASEC), the NLS Company, and the Riga Construction and Industry Company, Riga Egypt.
The investigations of the Public Funds Investigation added that the opening of the tender envelopes was more than 3 times delayed despite the absence of any reason for that, and after that, NLS was chosen to win the tender as the owner of the best technical offer and the lowest price in exchange for producing 20 and 100 thousand tons of clinker and feeding 10 million and 50 thousand tons of limestone at a price Production of 34 pounds, and 1.88 euros per ton produced.
The investigations stated that the Board of Directors of the National Cement Company subsequently agreed to amend these items at the request of the company that won the tender, so that the contract period would be 7 years instead of 5 and increase the agreed fees and reduce the targeted production.
The investigations clarified: This resulted in violations that resulted in wasting public money and these violations included the approval of the company's board of directors to contract with NLS for a period of 7 years instead of 5 in violation of the law and the tender conditions brochure, as well as the increase in the fees of the contracting company at progressive prices in foreign currency and the company's board of directors inaction. On conducting a clear logical evaluation of production lines "3 and 4" before launching the tender and delaying the announcement of the tender without giving any clear reason, which resulted in the waste of 300 million pounds of public money, which is the difference of the amounts contracted within 5 years.
Investigations also monitored that the Board of Directors of the National Cement Company contracted in a special tender for the supply of 250 tons of chromium, and it was found that there was a scrape and a change in the price discharge list, what was revealed through the examination that the company’s board of directors contracted with another company at prices double what resulted in the waste of public money.
