Yet another African case involving a Chinese supplier in alleged fraud over a government contract has wound up in court, with Secure Dynamics Zimbabwe charging that Huawei and several other tech companies did not follow proper procedures in a US$218 million telecom tender.
Secure Dynamics, a provider of security and telecommunications technology, has sued the Zimbabwe State Procurement Board, Huawei and operator NetOne over a $218 million telecom tender awarded to Huawei. The suit, filed in an administrative court, seeks to compel the board, NetOne and Huawei to issue a statement detailing how the tender was awarded.
Secure Dynamics says the tender was marred with corruption and wants the court to void the contract. Secure Dynamics also wants the court to compel the country's Anti-Corruption Commission to launch an investigation into how NetOne contracted Huawei to supply equipment for the tender and the manner in which the State Procurement Board awarded the contract.
The tender involves telecom equipment for 2,000 base stations, which would enable NetOne, the state owned operator, to upgrade equipment as well as roll out new base sites to provide broadband services with technology including LTE.
Secure Dynamics also accuses Huawei of inflating the cost of the tender. When the State Procurement Board expressed concerns over price inflation, Huawei decided to lower the cost of the tender to $254 million before lowering it further to $218 million. The reduction puzzled the State Procurement Board and raised suspicion of how Huawei Technologies made a reduction of $80 million from the initial price of $298 million for the same equipment.
Huawei Technologies Zimbabwe officials could not be reached for comment.
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