Skanska responds to allegations

Skanksa has appointed consultancy firm Deloitte for an external audit of its contract for the R7 expressway in the Czech Republic, following corruption allegations relating to the scheme.

The company said it had a policy of zero tolerance on corruption and denied allegations that have emerged surrounding the project.

Skanska said there had been an internal review in 2011 of the R7 scheme, which it had been appointed in 2008 to deliver. The company’s audit found there was no suspicion of impropriety.

However, the firm said the audit found there had been a change in the level of shares apportioned for the project. The company said this had not been approved by its management board and was found to have broken Skanska’s internal rules.

The Swedish-based contractor had worked on the R7 scheme as a joint venture with Geosan and EDS.

Roman Wieczorek, president of Skanska’s Czech operations, said the head of the internal audit on the project had not informed him of any impropriety surrounding the scheme. Wieczorek said that any accusations against the company were “totally false and baseless”.

Skanska said, “We take any suspected violation of ethical rules very seriously and have zero corruption tolerance. Therefore, we have launched an independent external audit of the project R7.”