I share this press release from the Good Law Project because I think it really important, and should not be ignored because some people went to an illegal party:
Over a year of hard work has paid off today. The High Court has ruled that the Government's operation of a fast-track VIP lane for awarding lucrative PPE contracts to those with political connections was unlawful.
In a challenge brought by Good Law Project and EveryDoctor to the behind closed door VIP lane worth billions of pounds, the Court found:
“the Claimants have established that operation of the High Priority Lane was in breach of the obligation of equal treatment… the illegality is marked by this judgment.” (§512)
The Judge agreed the VIP lane conferred preferential treatment on bids: it sped up the process, which meant offers were considered sooner in a process where timing was critical, and VIPs' hands were held through the process. She said:
“offers that were introduced through the Senior Referrers received earlier consideration at the outset of the process. The High Priority Lane Team was better resourced and able to respond to such offers on the same day that they arrived”. (§395)
The Court found the Government allocated offers to the VIP lane on a “flawed basis” (§396) and did not properly prioritise bids:
“there is evidence that opportunities were treated as high priority even where there were no objectively justifiable grounds for expediting the offer.” (§383).
The Court noted that the overwhelming majority by value of the product supplied by Pestfix and Ayanda could not be used in the NHS.
An independent investigation by the BBC has also revealed issues with the product supplied by Clandeboye which were not disclosed to the High Court. Good Law Project believes that the Government misled the Court and is in correspondence with lawyers for the Secretary of State.
The Judge found that, even though Pestfix and Ayanda received unlawful preferential treatment via the VIP lane, they would likely have been awarded contracts anyway. The Judge also refused to allow publication of how much money was wasted by the Government's failure to carry out technical assurance on the PPE supplied by Pestfix and Ayanda. Good Law Project is considering the wider implications of these aspects of the ruling and next steps.
We first revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane for those with political connections in October 2020. Since then, we have fought to reveal details of those who benefited, and at whose request - while the Government fought to conceal them.
Never again should any Government treat a public health crisis as an opportunity to enrich its associates and donors at public expense.
Thank you for your trust in us, and your continued support of this case over 18 long months. Without you, this simply wouldn't have been possible.
We also want to express our deep gratitude to our expert legal team on this case: Rook Irwin Sweeney and Jason Coppel QC, Patrick Halliday and Zac Sammour of 11KBW. They have worked tirelessly on this case and we hugely appreciate their efforts.
You can read the full judgment from the High Court here.
Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from people across the UK. If you're in a position to support our work, you can do so here.
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Can we start referring to them as “the criminal Tory party” yet, or is everything always unlawful rather than criminal?
I think that we can simply because an act does not have to be unlawful to be criminal. Viz a viz, it was criminal the way in which he let his house fall into disrepair, not an illegal act but commonly considered to be criminal.
However in the case of the Tories I think that referring to them as criminals is letting them off too lightly.
Referring to them constantly as the criminal Tory party may be letting them off lightly, but it might cut through with some of the 30 odd percent that seem to support them no matter what.
Maybe “The Tory Mafia” would be more appropriate.
I wonder if anyone on here can answer the following questions for me.
I read a tweet on Twitter this morning, by the GLP, and attached was what appeared to be very strong documentary evidence in respect of the suspicious illegal actions of two government ministers in particular.
My problem now is are these actions criminal offences or are they subject to people like the GLP bring private prosecutions?
If they are criminal which enforcement body will be sufficiently free of political interference to peruse enforcement action?
I was lamenting on this hoo-ha over a party this morning.
There are so many other more important things that Tory party and Johnson need to have some form of ‘terminal’ career ending accountability for and this blog subject matter is one of them. Had they been operating as an effective Government they would not need to have broken procurement rules at all. Procurement rules where I work say that if you are rule breaking then you’ve not been doing your job in being prepared. Tough. So it goes – but not if you’re the Tory party and their mates.
I suppose we will have to do with scraps like this and cling to some hope that the ship ‘HMS Tory Bastards’ has been holed fatally here and will sink.
But I’m so disappointed that it is all over a few drinks. What sort of twisted, out of kilter morality is society working to here? Or is it just jealousy politics based on getting drunk with your mates (versus not being able to)?
There’s nowt so queer as folk.
“The Judge found that, even though Pestfix and Ayanda received unlawful preferential treatment via the VIP lane, they would likely have been awarded contracts anyway.”
I’m intrigued by the judge’s conclusion that a small pest control company and an investment company run in the Horlick family’s interests could have been suitable contenders for contracts to purchase huge quantities of critical, specialist life-or-death PPE equipment without the advantage of VIP Fast Lane preferential treatment. Take Pestfix: as at 31 Dec 2020 it was a dormant company with a share capital of just £2 (called up but not paid). That’s all their balance sheet shows, yet by May of 2021 they’d been awarded a PPE contract for £342 million. Ayanda likewise had absolutely no experience of PPE supply yet it was awarded a contract worth £252,500.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/ppe-bribes-china-uk-government-pestfix-b936043.html
Add in the fact that £280m worth of face masks were subsequently rejected by the NHS as not up to the required standard and the judge’s presumptions simply look farcical.
Baffling, isn’t it?
I’m now try to decide if this is unlawful or criminal apart from it definitely being “cronyism”
There’s been a lot of coverage of this in Private Eye; there was a PPE special report a few issues ago.