The campaign to beat the pandemic

Comment The cost of lives lost and yachts bought – The Covid PPE contracts scandal

When the current Labour government took power, one of the targets on their radar was the recovery of some of the funds spent on defective PPE by the previous Tory government, writes Joseph Healy. This took place at the height of the pandemic via the notorious “VIP lane” where contracts were granted to those with access to government ministers and high ranking members of the Tory party. Chancellor, Rachel Reeves appointed a Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner whose job it is to supervise this major recovery of funds.

Failed pandemic-era PPE contracts cost the British taxpayer £1.4 billion, as an interim report commissioned by Reeves, laid bare the scale of the scandal.

The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner’s report reveals the price the British public has paid for undelivered contracts which saw taxpayer cash squandered on unusable PPE.

The last government’s over-ordering of PPE, and delays in checking it, mean that £762 million is unlikely to ever be recovered. These failures saw substandard PPE – gowns, masks and visors – not inspected for two years, meaning public money could no longer be recouped.

There were two major results of this criminal corruption and incompetence on the part of the Tory government. Firstly, it meant that many NHS staff on the front line either died or became seriously ill with Long Covid because of defective PPE equipment purchased under this scheme. Secondly, the long-term impact on the public finances.

There have been many heart wrenching documentaries where family members and friends have spoken of the deaths of dedicated NHS staff who found themselves facing a deadly pathogen with crumbling masks and ineffective gowns.

The cost to them and to their families don’t appear on the balance sheets of the ghouls who used their position to make profits in the middle of a pandemic. Several hundred NHS staff who became long term sick with Long Covid are in pursuit of a class action against the hospital trusts who employed them, many because of the defective equipment.

During the UK Covid Inquiry, it’s become clear that the means of acquiring one of these lucrative contracts was to contact ministers such as Michael Gove,or Matt Hancock directly via the VIP lane and arrange for the equipment to be delivered to the NHS. It also became clear that the UK was the only place in the world to use this system. Everywhere else used the tried and tested system of public procurement by which companies had to go through a series of tests before they could win contracts.

At the Inquiry Gove, Hancock and others reacted angrily at any suggestion of corruption and their usual retort was: “We had no other choice, it was an emergency, and we had to acquire equipment as fast as possible”

Many of these companies had no background or history in producing PPE or indeed any medical supplies. One classic example was Michael Saiger. The Good Law Project questioned the awarding of PPE contracts worth over £250 million to Michael Saiger, who headed an American jewellery company and had no experience in supplying PPE. The contracts involved a £21 million payment to intermediary Gabriel González Andersson.

A landmark study revealed widespread corruption risks in UK government Covid contracts worth over £15 billion, accounting for nearly a third of pandemic-related spending. The investigation, conducted by Transparency International UK, found systemic issues such as lack of competition, opaque accounting, and conflicts of interest in over 135 contracts. Political connections and the controversial VIP lane were flagged, with £1 billion wasted on unusable PPE. Despite the urgency of the pandemic, the report criticized the government’s overreliance on non-competitive procurement, leading to significant waste. 

The most obvious case, which has recently received widespread media coverage y and the only one brought to justice so far, has been that of Tory Baroness Mone and her company Medpro. They received a contract for £122 million to supply PPE. Mone claimed that she had no connection whatsoever with the company. However, in November 2022, The Guardian reported that an Isle of Man trust, of which Mone and her adult children are beneficiaries, had received £29 million originating from PPE Medpro via a series of offshore transactions involving Barrowman. Her lawyer had previously said she did not declare PPE Medpro in the House of Lords register of financial interests as “she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.”

Mone also lobbied for LFI Diagnostics, a company established as a secret entity of her husband Barrowman’s family office Knox family office. An unnamed source told The Guardian that Mone was “in a class of her own in terms of the sheer aggression of her advocacy” for LFI Diagnostics. On 6 December 2022, Mone’s spokesperson said she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect “in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her.”

On 19 December 2022 it emerged that the government would sue PPE Medpro for £122m plus costs. The government said that medical gowns which were supplied by the company “did not comply with the specification in the contract” and could not be used in the NHS. PPE Medpro said it would “rigorously” defend the claim.

Mone was found responsible by the High Court for the funds and ordered to repay them. She has protested vigorously, claiming that it is a witch hunt and most amusing of all, stated that she has no intention of returning to the House of Lords as a Tory peer! Mone became infamous because of the size of her luxury yacht, beside which she was frequently photographed. Unfortunately, her case is only the tip of the iceberg of this gargantuan fraud.

At a time when the government claims that they cannot afford the costs of disability payments or the NHS, it is sobering to think that these vast sums would dwarf these levels of cuts. Yet none of these people have been brought to justice, especially those who presided over this feast of vultures. All of them have blood on their hands and much more must be done to recover the funds. It is a startling reminder of the levels of corruption among the government class and their corporate cronies.