The Eastland-based company submitted tenders for three municipal assignments with a total value of NOK 7.6 million. But the credit report they submitted was tampered with to make the company appear far more financially sound than they were.
Among other things, 144 outstanding claims were deleted.
Bergen City Council immediately banned the company for the next three years when the forgery was discovered.
This week, the finance council also filed a police report.
– First of all, we have banned the company from participating in municipal competitions in Bergen for three years. At the same time, this is a company that operates outside this city’s borders. Therefore, we have also chosen to report this relationship to the police, says finance councilor Eivind Nævdal-Bolstad (H) to NRK.
For the first time, the Finance Council has reported a service provider.
Photo: John Inge Johansen / NRK
– Was it difficult to see that it was a forgery?
– It was quite an amateur fraud and forgery, as we see it. So we have established with certainty that this is a completely obvious falsification of documents, says the Finance Council.
Falsified reports from Creditsafe
First, the construction company has extracted real reports from the credit information company Creditsafe. They have then manipulated the documents to appear more solid than they really are.
Now you can be a case manager and examine parts of the report:
Do you see anything jarring here?
The forgery is easy to see when you study the documents. Within four days the rating rose from 21 (High risk) to 90 (Very low risk) but at the same time the text was not forged. Thus, the report appears with a score of 90 and a very HIGH risk. The number 90 is also written in a different font size.
Elsewhere in the report, changes have been made that are relatively visible. It’s cut and pasted with different text types, and the credit line doesn’t line up with the rest of the text.
A credit report also contains attachment transactions, debt collection claims and payment notices.
In total, the company had 144 outstanding claims totaling NOK 2.6 million over the past two years.
In the company’s report to the municipality, all of these were deleted.
Removed changes in key figures
Most credit reports also have key figures for the business. The changes in the key figures for the last two years are included here.
In the original report, they appear in red if the development is negative, or green if it is positive.
The company has removed all the calculations and colors. The numbers are the same:
You can see the before and after pictures by sliding the picture.
– A risk the municipality cannot run
– What consequences would it have for Bergen municipality if the company had been used in some jobs for which they had competed?
– These were three jobs that together had an estimated value of NOK 7.6 million. If it had been the case that the company had not had the backbone to carry the projects, then of course there would have been consequences if they had gone bankrupt during the construction period. A municipality simply cannot run that risk, says the finance council Nævdal-Bolstad.
In the worst case, Bergen municipality could lose almost NOK 8 million if the forgery was not discovered.
Photo: John Inge Johansen / NRK
It is the first time that the city council in Bergen has banned a player from being able to submit an offer to the municipality, says finance councilor Eivind Nævdal-Bolstad
«Amateurly»
Creditsafe, the company behind the falsified reports, informs NRK that this type of falsification is rare.
– We don’t experience it often, but we have had cases. What we see when someone falsifies our reports is quite amateurish. It has simply taken a print or a PDF which they have manipulated and handed out further, says the country manager at Creditsafe, Per Fjærestad.
Per Fjærestad recommends that those who are exposed to fraud always report it.
Photo: Moment Studio
According to Fjærestad, this document has also been sent to Vefsn municipality in Nordland.
– What do you think of what has been sent to Bergen municipality?
– Amateurly. It is necessary to report such conditions. It is a legal issue for us as well. In this case, we have not been defrauded, but we have provided correct information which someone may have subsequently manipulated.
– It’s a scam. And it is also a breach of agreements and terms of use. So we have immediately taken action on this and banned this company from our bases, says Fjærestad.
NRK has repeatedly tried to make contact with the construction company, which has an office in Eastern Norway, without success.
Tags: Bergen municipality bans reports construction company falsifying credit information NRK Vestland
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