Kanpur Plastipack denies bribery charges

Kanpur Plastipack has flatly denied it had bribed to secure contracts in Iraq. This woven sack-making firm is on the list of companies alleged to have paid the Iraqi government of the day for securing contracts under the food for oil programme, executed under the supervision of the United Nations, in the closing years of the last decade.

Joint Managing Director Manoj Agarwal told Business Standard, "We are surprised that the company's name has appeared on the list."

He said the contracts secured were through open tenders. The firm's quotations were accepted thrice.

"Once the contract was awarded, the line of credit was opened by the UN in our name. Thus, the procedures were foolproof. We used to supply the goods and these were received by the UN inspectors in Baghdad. The process of payment used to take about five to six months," he said.

"We got about three contracts worth $500,000-600,000," Agarwal said.