Covid PPE supplier must face the music, court rules

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A company accused of unlawfully benefiting from a multi-million rand contract to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid pandemic, has failed in a bid to quash a summons issued against it by the Special Investigating Unit to recover the money.

Pro Secure raised several objections to the formulation of the case against it in the papers. But Special Tribunal Judge Kate Pillay has dismissed the company’s objections and ordered the company to pay the costs.

The SIU investigation uncovered irregularities in the Limpopo Department of Health’s appointment of service providers including Pro Secure, Clinipro and Ndia Business Trading, which resulted in about R182-million irregular and wasteful expenditure. The SIU initiated action against Pro Secure, alleging the company had made “secret profits”, and also instituted civil proceedings against the former head of health in the province, Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo.

In October 2022, the SIU secured an order from the Special Tribunal, effectively freezing Mhlongo’s pension fund until the outcome of the civil action against her. Mhlongo resigned in June that year while facing disciplinary charges.

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In its application to the Tribunal, Pro Secure challenged the SIU’s legal standing, the fact that the Limpopo health department was not a party to the SIU action. Pro Secure also claimed that there was no allegation that its bid for the contract was not lawful.

Judge Pillay found there was no substance to any of the company’s arguments.

She said the particulars of claim in the civil action set out how Pro Secure had received a payment “significantly exceeding their initial bid”.

She said that according to the SIU, the request for quotation sent by the department was for 5,000 automated hand sanitisers. Pro Secure had submitted a quote for 5,000 white electronic hand disinfectant dispensers and for 5,000 liquid sanitisers, the total amount being just over R7-million. Ultimately, the company had delivered 30,000 dispenser holders at R420 per unit and 900,000 litres of hand sanitiser at R170 a litre and had been paid almost R162-million.

In a statement, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “This ruling supports the SIU’s stance on the irregular procurement of PPE by the Limpopo Department of Health during the pandemic.”

This article was originally published on GroundUp.

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