Corruption used to be scandalous. Then it became par for the course: the Expenses Scandal (2009), LIBOR (2012), the Panama Papers (2016), FinCEN (2020) etcetera.
But this time, it’s different. We’re in a pandemic and lives are at stake. Instead of awarding contracts to experienced and reliable public companies, the government is looting the Treasury and awarding its donors. It is doing so with almost no accountability or oversight.
- Tory-linked corporations
An estimated £364m-worth of public money had been handed to Tory-linked corporations, some of them new microbusinesses with no PPE procurement expertise, without bids or competition. These include:
- £1.3m to Clipper Logistics (owned by Tory donor Steve Parkin)
- £93.8m to the healthcare provider and Tory donor, Globus (Shetland)
- £148m to Meller Designs (a beauty product supplier owned by Tory donor, David Meller)
- Over £120m to P14 Medical (owned by Tory councillor, Steve Dechan).
- £1.3m to Clipper Logistics (owned by Tory donor Steve Parkin)
- Ayanda and Prospermill
Andrew Mills of the microbusiness Prospermill advised the government’s Board of Trade.
He also advised the finance firm Ayanda Capital, which is allegedly owned by a Mauritius-based tax-haven, Milo Investments.
Prospermill had no PPE procurement experience, yet in April it registered on the Govt. Portal as a preferred PPE supplier.
A lawsuit alleges that Prospermill sought financing from Ayanda Capital and that Mills allegedly requested that the government award an untendered contract to Ayanda to supply the Department of Health and Social Care with £252 million-worth of PPE - The apps that weren’t
App contracts were awarded to companies connected to PM Johnson’s Svengali, Dominic Cummings, under a programme run by the Tory peer, Baroness Dido Harding. Arguably, lives were put in danger and the virus spread further because the apps didn’t work, didn’t work properly, or were not ready in time. - Hanbury Strategy and Public First
Hanbury Strategy, a PR company co-founded by another Cummings colleague, Paul Stephenson of Vote Leave, won a £640,000 untendered contract to research COVID-related public attitudes and behaviours.
The Public First opinion surveyor was awarded an £840,000 untendered contract to assess perceptions of the government’s handling of the crisis. It is run by Cummings’s long-time associate, James Frayne, and former Michael Gove advisor, Rachel Wolf
Read the full article here:
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how-the-tories-normalised-corruption-report-205523/