ROW OVER NHS £400M SPENDING SPREE
Brothel madam’s former firm lands £47m deal
NHS contracts worth more than £ 400million have been directly awarded to Scottish firms during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Companies landed bumper deals without having to tender a bid. One f irm got £ 47million to supply face masks. Its ex-company secretary, Isabella Qazi, quit after she was arrested for running a brothel.
Health leaders in Scotland have handed contracts worth almost £400million to private firms during the Covid-19 crisis.
More than half of that sum, £200million of taxpayers’ money, has gone to companies importing personal protective equipment (PPE).
Much of the public funding bonanza has gone to firms who had not supplied NHS Scotland before the pandemic.
The contracts – awarded directly instead of through competitive tendering – include millions paid to the husband of a convicted brothel madam, an online sports shop owner with in-laws in China, a vaping ent repreneu r and a mobility scooter company.
Other big winners include consultancy firm KPMG, which was paid £40,000 a day for advice on a vaccine and to oversee the criticised flu vaccine programme.
The contracts also include £ 38million spent on the NHS Louisa Jordan field hospital – still to be used to treat coronavirus patients.
Campaigners have warned directly-awarded contracts handed out under emergency Covid-19 laws would have seen costs soar by millions.
Dr Gavin Hayman, executive director of Open Contracting, which lobbies for transparency around government contracts, said: “Direct awards increase the risk for things to go wrong. It’s difficult to understand if the Government is getting value for money or if the company is qualified fied to do the job when contracts are awarded directly.
“Getting quality goods and services ces in time and at the right valuee is especially critical during a crisis like ike the one we are facing right now.
“Direct awards mean less oversight ght that substantially increases the risks sks for overpricing, mismanagement ent and favouritism.”
The biggest payment went to contractor Continuum (Scotland) Ltd, which was paid £ 47mi l l ion for supplying Type II R face masks.
The Bishopbriggs f irm’s latest st accounts – classif ied as “micro” ” because they are so small – listed d assets of just £52,000 in 2019.
In 2013, its company secretary Isabella Qazi resigned from the firm on the day she was arrested by police for running an illegal sex den. The 77-year-old gran was the unlikely madam of a brothel in Glasgow’s Dennistoun, where sex workers were in their 60s.
Qazi was found guilty but avoided jail due to ill health. She was ordered to pay £ 43,000 after being hit with a proceeds of crime bill in 2015.
Her husband Kenneth Forrest, 59, who she married in 2016, also faced charges but was cleared.
At the time, Continuum specialised in selling Scottish memorabilia overseas, such as golf putters and tartan. Forrest is listed as having “significant control” over the firm.
NHS Scotland said the monster order has been completed.
A spokes woman for Continuum, which chartered 15 Boeing 747 jets to fly the order to Scotland, said: “In March 2020, Continuum was asked by the Scottish Government Gove to submit a proposal prop to supply Type II R surgical sur face masks to support sup the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Continuum was able to demonstrate robust experience and expertise to deliver the volumes and timescales required at an optimum price.”
Businessman Damien O’Looney runs online sports company Appin Sports and Chinese import business UK- China Trading Limited from a house in Balerno, Edinburgh.
The former Edinburgh Marathon marketing manager is married to Bing Li and says her family run a pharmaceutical business in China.
His firm was paid £ 8.9million to import 20million Type II R masks for NHS Scotland, costing 45p each. The company was also paid £ 25million for a similar contract in England.
He said: “We’ve run a business importing goods from China for around 10 years. It’s the first time working with the NHS.
“We approached them when coronavirus kicked off to see what we
could do. We have all the infrastructure so thought we could help.
“All our masks have been delivered. We made some profit on the deal and are now giving away PPE to charities that need it with some of the proceeds.”
Other firms importing PPE include Gi-UK Medical Limited, which was set up months before coronavirus struck. It was paid £ 7.5million to provide 10million similar surgical gical masks, working ng out at 75p each. The north Yorkshire- based company, which declined to comment, was founded last July and is backed by private investment firms.
Other private companies in the scramble for PPE deals in Scotland include mult i nat ional Bunzl Healthcare, which has a base in Cumbernauld.
The FTSE-100 distribution firm, run by Frank van Zanten, was paid £17.317.3million for an unspecified number numb of FFP3 masks.
The Th company has seen a 17 per cent increase incr in half-year profits since the Covid-19 Cov crisis started. Its shares are close to a record high and it repaid rep furlough cash that it took from fro the UK Government after it announced an revenue of £ 4.8billion. Outdo O Outdoor retail company Trespass was wa paid £ 2.4mi l lion for 600,000 60 pairs of safety goggles to be used by health workers. The Th firm had never supplied the NHS before, according to records. But it has provided local authorities and other government agencies.
Shaun McLaren, of the Glasgow-based company, said: “We were pleased to supply the NHS during the pandemic. Trespass are an established importer of PPE.”
Mobility firm Fast Aid Products – which has a scooter and wheelchair showroom in Loanhead, Midlothian – was paid £ 2.9million to source gowns for the NHS. It is owned by Northern Irish firm John Preston Healthcare Group.
Almost £5million has been spent on hand sanitiser, bottles and gels.
Nearly £ 2.5million went to Efinity Labs, set up by vaping entrepreneur Ryan Lord. In 2014, Lord, 38, who also runs a business importing e-cigarettes called TotalVipe out, opened a vape-friendly cafe in Burnley before diversifying into sanitising liquids.
In September, accountancy giant
KPMG was paid £640,000 for work in helping draw up plans for both the Covid-19 and flu vaccine.
The flu vaccine, which has been administered by health boards for the first time this year, has been heavily criticised, with some elderly patients not informed of their appointment until after the date.
The firm said the work was done over three weeks in August, meaning consultants were paid more than £ 40,000 a day. KPMG was also paid £500,000 for ongoing work on the track and trace programme and helping co- ordinate social care.
Scottish Labour’ s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “It beggars belief that expensive private consultants are profiting from Scotland’s chaotic flu vaccine programme.
“Despite buying in expert advice, SNP ministers have still managed to mess up winter flu jabs, causing stress and anxiety across the country. Older people have been put to the back of the queue, appointment letters have been sent too late and vulnerable people have been forced to travel for miles.
“It’s worrying that any consultancy firm involved in this botched flu vaccination project could be anywhere near the blueprint for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.”
Last week it was revealed that about 87,000 FFP3 respirators supplied by Dumfriesshire firm Alpha Solway had been recalled because 10 per cent of them failed tests that ensure they will fit tightly on the face.
A spokeswoman for National Services Scotland said there had been “a small number of issues” with suppliers but they had been fixed.
She added: “We have sourced and supplied more than 400million items of PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We continue to achieve best value while safeguarding supply resilience amid unprecedented demand.”
Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 36 more people in Scotland in 24 hours, with 1118 new cases.
Despite expert advice, the SNP have still messed up winter flu jabs