The government’s decision to award a £122 million PPE contract to an associate of a Conservative peer is the “definition of corruption”, the Labour MP for Sefton Central has said.
According to reports PPE Medpro was handed a lucrative contract to supply 25 million gowns for health workers just seven weeks after it was formed.
The company was started by Anthony Page on the day he quit as the secretary of the company that deals with Baroness Mone’s “brand”.
Just 44 days later it had won the Department of Health contract without having to go through a tender process.
Jolyon Maugham of The Good Law Project, said: “Another hugely lucrative PPE contract has been awarded to a firm with no obvious qualification beyond links to very substantial donors to the Conservative Party.”
The profit margins on such deals are said to be worth between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, making them incredibly lucrative.
Bill Esterson, the Labour MP for Sefton Central, said handing the contracts out to associates without advertising them to other bidders is the “definition of corruption”.
And others tended to agree.
Emeritus Professor of Accounting Prem Sikka noted that not only is government money being handed out unjustly, the company they are awarding it to are based in a low tax jurisdiction.
Actor Gary Webster added:
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