A pandemic to combat and a collapsed market where all the administrations competed to obtain materials that had been little in demand until then. Faced with this equation, the authorities decided to reduce bureaucracy and normalize contracting on the fast track. The Generalitat of Catalunyalike the rest of the administrations, awarded contracts by hand that, after more than two years, have come under the scrutiny of the supervisory bodies and have exposed undue payments and deviations from the regulations in some contracts.
On March 19, 2020, just four days after the start of the state of alarm, the Catalan administration signed a €60.5 million contract with the company Basic Devices, which presented itself as an importer of Chinese products. The order included two million FFP2-type masks (at 3.5 euros per unit), two million face masks for high-risk surgery (at 1.21 euros per unit) and another two million biological risk dresses (at 24.2 euros the unit). Included in the same purchase were 50 respirators for 20,570 euros and another 50 non-invasive mechanical ventilation equipment at a cost of 31,853.25 euros.
The next day, the Department of the Economy carried out a advance payment of 35 million euros. However, a few hours later, following an alert from the financial institutions, officials from the Department went to the Mossos d’Esquadra to file a complaint for attempted fraud. Well, the Catalan administration considered that Basic Devices, whose sole administrator is Jose Maria Parellada Ripoll, he could not fulfill the contract since he had never handled so much money before. The case took another turn of the script three days later, when the Generalitat withdrew the complaint because the contractor had provided “sufficient” documentation. In any case, on May 5 the Institut Català de Salut (ICS) modified the contract downwards and limited it to 35 million euros to match the anticipated amount.
The delivery was made as planned and all the material arrived in Catalonia on December 3, 2020, but the Antifrau Office of Catalonia (OAC) opened an investigation and found that “there were no prior objective references” to this company before this award, that when it received the order the company was possibly prohibited from being contracted because it did not appear in the registry of those registered with Social Security, that there was no legal coverage for the advance payment and that presumably an inappropriate VAT was applied due to a change in the tax law. For all this, he valued the hiring “reckless“.
Asked about this issue, the ICS emphasizes that this file was analyzed by the Sindicatura de Comptes without finding any irregularity and they justify the award because “it was necessary to assume these risks in the face of the extremely serious situation and the lack of protection material.” “The greatest risk was not to take risks. No corrective measure is necessary since the exceptional situation has ended,” the agency stresses.
7.91 million to return
The Syndicate of Comptes yes appreciated improper payments worth 7.91 million euros by the ICS to a foreign company from which it ordered respirators. The company in question is Innjoo Technology with Chen Shouting as sole administrator according to the commercial registry and, according to the Sindicatura, “its corporate purpose does not include the activity that is the object of the contract.”
The award was signed on March 27 and 500 pediatric and adult portable respirators were ordered at a price of 30,000 euros without VAT, which in total amounted to 15 million euros. The ICS, when it signed the purchase, did not have the import license for medical devices granted by the Spanish Medicines Agency -it was received on April 6- and the purchase continued.
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It was then that it generated a debt because, as reported to the Treasury of the Generalitat, “the computer system for clearing invoices accounted for with the amount of the advances received and supplier was incorrectly paid 7.91 millioninstead of compensating him with the advance granted”.
The ICS, in its allegations, delves into the “absolutely exceptional” situation in which the order was made. The Generalitat claimed the amount of this pending debt by mail from the supplier and, for now, has not yet received it, according to sources from the Ministry of Economy.