The World Bank Group has barred three PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates in East Africa from participating in its projects for nearly two years.
The sanctions affect Mauritius-based PricewaterhouseCoopers Associates Africa Ltd, PwC Kenya and PwC Rwanda, which have been handed a 21-month debarment with conditional release over what the Bank described as collusive and fraudulent conduct linked to an electricity integration project in Ethiopia.
The move underscores rising scrutiny of consultancy practices in multilateral-funded infrastructure programmes.
The case centres on the Eastern Electricity Highway Project, part of a broader regional initiative aimed at linking power markets and facilitating electricity exports from Ethiopia to Kenya. The project is a key component of efforts to lower energy costs in East Africa while enabling Addis Ababa to generate foreign exchange through power sales.
According to the Bank’s findings, the PwC entities improperly obtained confidential procurement information from project officials in 2019 to influence the award of a consultancy contract tied to financial reporting reforms at Ethiopian Electric Power.
The firms were also found to have sought to sway the award of a separate contract involving fixed asset inventory and revaluation for the Ethiopian Electric Utility. In addition, investigators concluded that one of the entities misrepresented the availability and qualifications of key personnel and failed to disclose all subcontracting arrangements during the execution of the assignment.
The companies have admitted culpability as part of a negotiated settlement with the lender.
While the debarment renders the firms ineligible for World Bank-financed contracts, the relatively limited duration reflects mitigating factors, including cooperation with investigators, internal disciplinary measures and commitments to strengthen compliance systems.
The settlement also requires the firms to implement enhanced integrity frameworks aligned with the Bank’s compliance guidelines as a condition for reinstatement.
The sanctions extend beyond the World Bank’s own operations. Under a 2010 agreement among multilateral development banks, the penalties could trigger cross-debarment by other institutions, potentially limiting the firms’ access to a broader pool of donor-funded projects.
That raises the commercial stakes for the affected entities, particularly in a region where advisory firms play a central role in structuring and implementing large-scale infrastructure and reform programmes backed by development finance.
The case highlights the growing enforcement reach of multilateral lenders as they seek to safeguard procurement processes amid rising investment in cross-border infrastructure. Projects such as the Ethiopia–Kenya power interconnection are seen as critical to regional integration but also carry complex contracting environments involving multiple stakeholders and jurisdictions.
The sanctions also come at a time when global consulting firms are facing heightened regulatory scrutiny over conflicts of interest, transparency and internal controls, particularly in emerging markets where oversight frameworks can be uneven.
PricewaterhouseCoopers operates as a network of member firms rather than a single global entity, and the agreement notes that PricewaterhouseCoopers Africa Limited, which provides oversight to regional affiliates, was not sanctioned but has committed to strengthening compliance supervision.
The developments are expected to reinforce calls for tighter due diligence and monitoring mechanisms in donor-funded projects.
