Neither staff nor members of the American Society of Civil Engineers are guilty of ethics violations in the society’s assessment of New Orleans’ flood defense performance during Hurricane Katrina, nor in its peer review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-funded task force that studied it, ASCE’s standing committee on Professional Conduct has concluded after a 13-month investigation. “No charges of ethical misconduct against any of the individuals named were filed by CPC as a result of the inquiry,” says CPC Chair Rich Hovey. A charge of lax ethics was leveled by Raymond Seed, a University of California-Berkeley civil engineering

An internal ASCE ethics probe absolved the organization and its members of charges of misconduct related to assessment of the New Orleans Hurricane Protection System following Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Michael Goodman/ENR Charges against ASCE involved flood protect and levees in New Orleans. The probe also found no misconduct in ASCE’s peer review of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, which was a broad look at the causes of the disaster. Carried out by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Committee on Professional Conduct, the probe was a response to  charges in a complaint by Raymond Seed, a civil engineering professor,

Four executives with one of the largest construction firms in South America, Camargo Correa, were arrested by Brazilian police on March 25 in connection with a yearlong corruption probe. In all, 10 employees of the firm were arrested as federal police carried out a series of raids on the company’s offices in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. The operation was part of an investigation named Operation Sand Castle. Photo: Hermano Luders Itaipu dam contractor faces charges. Investigators with Brazil’s federal prosecutor’s office specializing in financial crimes say Camargo Correa was laundering money through fake companies and illegal currency traders.

The World Bank on Jan. 14 announced the debarment of seven contractors and one individual for engaging in bid rigging on a major bank-financed roads project in the Philippines. The World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) found that local and international firms colluded on contracts under phase one of the Philippines National Roads Improvement and Management Program (NRIMP 1). The World Bank’s Sanctions Board agreed the firms engaged in a bid-rigging scheme. The contractors debarred include China Road and Bridge Corp. (eight years), China Geo-Engineering Corp. (five years), and China State Construction Engineering Corp. (six years), all based in Beijing;

The World Bank announced January 14 the debarment of seven firms and one individual for engaging in collusive practices on major Bank-financed roads projects in the Philippines. The World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) uncovered evidence of a major cartel involving local and international firms bidding on contracts under phase one of the Philippines National Roads Improvement and Management Program, known as NRIMP 1. World Bank stopped an estimated $33 million in Bank funds from being awarded to the firms. The World Bank’s Sanctions Board concluded that the entities had participated in a collusive bid-rigging scheme. The contractors debarred include

Stone & Webster Construction Inc. will pay $6.2 million to the federal government to settle a multi-year investigation into alleged improper recordkeeping of injuries and site safety under a $10-billion long-term contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority for modifications and maintenance work at nuclear plant sites in Tennessee and Alabama. The U.S. Justice Dept. announced the settlement Jan. 22 with Stone & Webster, based in Stoughton, Mass. and a subsidiary of Baton Rouge, La.-based The Shaw Group since 2000. The settlement also requires Stone & Webster to enter into a first-of-its kind comprehensive two-year monitoring agreement with TVA's Office of

Ten current construction supervisors and one retired supervisor at Consolidated Edison, the utility serving Manhattan and its northern suburbs, were arrested on Jan. 14 for soliciting and accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks since 2004 from a construction contractor. Prosecutors declined to identify the contractor because it is cooperating in the probe and will plead guilty, officials said. Work involved in the scheme included cleanup and repair of an underground steam pipe that exploded in Manhattan in July 2007, killing one pedestrian. U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell says the firm’s president and co-owner, also not identified, paid bribes in

Ten current construction supervisors and one recent retired official of Consolidated Edison, the utility serving Manhattan and its northern suburbs, were arrested Jan. 14 for soliciting and accepting more than $1 million in kickbacks from a construction contractor since 2004. Work involved in the bribery scheme also included cleanup and repair of an underground steam pipe that exploded in Manhattan in July 2007, killing one pedestrian, injuring others and causing millions of dollars in damage. Photo: AP Repair of steampipe that exploded in Manhattan in 2007 was among work that bribe contractor handled. Officials in the office of U.S. Attorney

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) has withdrawn from his nomination as commerce secretary in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet. In a Jan. 5 news conference, Richardson stated that an ongoing federal grand jury investigation into a state contract related to Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP), won by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based CDR Financial Products, “would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.” The investigation centers around a $1.48-million consulting contract CDR won in 2004 with the New Mexico Finance Authority, a state agency that finances infrastructure projects. CDR was part of a team of financial services firms that advised NMFA on

The master rigger of a 200-ft-high tower crane that collapsed at a midtown Manhattan construction site last March, killing seven workers and civilians, was indicted Jan. 5 on multiple charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless endangerment. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau also said that rigger William Rapetti, 48 and his firm Rapetti Rigging Services Inc., Massapequa, N.Y., failed to file tax returns. Photo: Debra K. Rubin/ENR District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announces indictment of tower crane rigger while Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn (left) noted stricter city crane safety rules. Following his arraignment, also on Jan. 5, Rapetti faces