The Times - UK (2022-01-13)

the times | Thursday January 13 2022 11

News

The government acted unlawfully by

using a VIP lane to award hundreds of

millions of pounds to PPE suppliers

during the Covid-19 pandemic, the

High Court has ruled.

A pest control company and a hedge

fund secured more than £600 million in

contracts after being singled out for

special treatment “on a flawed basis”.

In a ruling delivered yesterday after a

claim brought by the campaign groups

the Good Law Project and Every-

Doctor, Mrs Justice O’Farrell con-

cluded that the way in which Pestfix

and Ayanda Capital had been fast-

tracked for PPE contracts had been “in

breach of the obligation of equal treat-

ment”.

She found that it was “very likely” the

companies would have been awarded

the contracts even if they had not been

referred to the VIP lane and the firms’

offers “justified priority treatment on

its merits”. However, she concluded

that the operation of the fast-track lane

had been unlawful.

Ayanda Capital secured PPE con-

tracts worth £252.5 million, while Pest-

fix was awarded £342 million in con-

tracts.

O’Farrell ruled that the VIP lane was

“better resourced” and “offers that were

introduced through the senior referrers

received earlier consideration at the

outset of the process”.

Suppliers that had a recommend-

ation from an MP, peer or official were

ten times more likely to win a govern-

ment contract than those that did not, a

report by the National Audit Office

found.

Michael Gove and Matt Hancock

were among ten Conservative politi-

cians who helped PPE companies

secure £1.6 billion in government con-

tracts, it was discovered last month

after ministers were forced to release

the names of the 47 PPE companies

dealt with through the VIP lane.

Pestfix was awarded contracts after

Joe England, its director, contacted

World update

Global cases

313,498,

Global deaths

5,504,

Countries reporting most deaths

Most new cases

US

Brazil

India

Russia

Mexico

Peru

UK

Indonesia

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

842,

620,

484,

311,

300,

203,

151,

144,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

US

France

Italy

Spain

Argentina

UK

Germany

Australia

752,

368,

220,

134,

134,

129,

120,

84,

Data supplied by Johns Hopkins University. US data fluctuates because of irregular reporting by different states.

Figures as of 6pm yesterday. Sources: UK government, Our World in Data, selected countries

Deaths per million population

Rank Now Jan 31

1 ,23 4

1 ,

1 , 431

1 , 296

1 , 367

797

1 , 523

1 ,

836

949

1,

1, 057

1 , 309

1,4 60

1 , 555

6,

4,

4,

4,

3,

3,

3,

3,

3,

3,

2,

2,

2,

2,

2,

Peru

Bulgaria

Bosnia & Herz.

Hungary

N. Macedonia

Georgia

Czech Rep

Croatia

Slovakia

Romania

Brazil

Argentina

US

Italy

UK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

11

16

19

25

26

( 16 )

( 13 )

( 7 )

( 14 )

( 10 )

( 40 )

( 5 )

( 17 )

( 37 )

( 31 )

( 24 )

( 23 )

( 11 )

( 6 )

(4)

No romance on never-ending first date

china

A woman was stuck on an

interminable first date after parts of

the central city of Zhengzhou were

placed under lockdown. Known only

by her surname Wang, she was dining

at her prospective suitor’s house when

the measures were imposed. She told

The Paper, a Shanghai newspaper: “I

could not leave.” She has posted short

videos documenting her daily life but

it appears that romance has yet to

blossom. “Besides the fact that he’s as

mute as a wooden mannequin,

everything else [about him] is pretty

good,” she said. “Despite his food

being mediocre, he’s still willing to

cook, which I think is great.”

rwanda

More than a hundred Rwandans who

crossed to the Democratic Republic of

Congo said they were fleeing because

of Covid-19 vaccination rules, local

sources said. Small groups of

Rwandans, travelling by canoe, have

landed on the southern edge of Idjwi

island in Lake Kivu, which straddles

the border. Rwanda, a country of

13 million people, has enforced some of

the strictest anti-Covid containment

measures in Africa. By mid-December

Rwanda had fully vaccinated about

60 per cent of people aged 18 and

above. Vaccination is mandatory for

using public transport or going to bars

and restaurants and public gatherings.

tunisia

Critics of the government attacked

the imposition of a curfew and ban on

all gatherings as an attempt to

prevent political protests. The ban on

gatherings and a request to avoid

travel except for emergencies came

two days before a planned

demonstration against Kais Saied, the

president.

russia

President Putin said his country had

two weeks to prepare for a fresh wave

of coronavirus infections driven by

the Omicron variant after the WHO

warned of a surge in Europe. “We see

what is happening in the world,” he

told a meeting of cabinet ministers.

“We have a couple of weeks to

prepare.” Russia has recorded 698

Omicron cases so far, Tatyana

Golikova, the deputy prime minister,

announced during a televised meeting

with Putin. Fewer than half of Russia’s

population of 146 million have been

vacccinated.

switzerland

Switzerland will halve its quarantine

time to five days from today to help

the economy. Health authorities

approved the move on Tuesday as

tens of thousands more people a day

were being infected with Omicron.

Officials worry, however, that the

healthcare system could be

overwhelmed. Two-thirds of the

Swiss population have had two doses

and just 30 per cent a booster. The

government is trying to avoid

mandatory vaccinations, a route

neighbouring Austria has taken.

hospital cases finally start to fall

News

VIP supply deals

were unlawful

George Grylls Political Reporter Steve Oldfield, the chief commercial

officer at the Department of Health,

saying he was a friend of Oldfield’s

father-in-law.

“I am a good friend of Ray’s and we

met at his 80th birthday bash. I spoke to

Ray a short while ago and he was kind

enough to give me your email (which

will not be abused). I am one of three

owners of a family business that spe-

cialises in PPE equipment supply.”

Oldfield replied: “How very nice to

hear from you, and I remember well our

chat when you came to Ray’s 80th at

ours. My colleagues and I would be

delighted to learn more about what you

have available and in what quantities.”

Ayanda Capital was awarded con-

tracts after Andrew Mills, an adviser to

the company and to Liz Truss in the

Department of International Trade,

helped to broker a deal.

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour

leader, said: “While hardworking NHS

staff were going without PPE, Tory

politicians saw an opportunity to line

their mates’ pockets.”

A spokesman for the Department of

Health and Social Care said: “At the

height of the pandemic there was a

desperate need for PPE to protect

health and social care staff and the

government rightly took swift and deci-

sive action to secure it.

“We are pleased the court has ruled

that our industry call to arms was open

and transparent. The ruling says it is

highly likely these offers would have

been awarded if they were processed

through other channels also used to

process offers.

“All contracts underwent sufficient

financial and technical due diligence

and the court found that we did not rely

on the referral to the high-priority lane

when awarding contracts.

“Throughout the pandemic our

absolute priority has always been

saving lives and we have been working

tirelessly to deliver PPE to protect our

health and social care staff on the front

line, with over 17.5 billion PPE items

delivered so far.”

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

Helping hands Matthew

Ashbridge, a naval bomb

disposal expert, and Corydon

Morrell of the Army Air Corps,

familiarise themselves with

NHS ambulances to relieve

Covid-related staff shortages