Unexpected slap on the State’s material reserves: Fatty fine for suspicious purchases, millions to fight COVID – Topky

When purchasing them, the Office finds a violation of the Public Procurement Act. ÚVO spokeswoman Jana Zvončeková informed about it. The purchases date back to the time of former SŠHR chief Kajetán Kičura, who is currently being prosecuted for a particularly serious crime of accepting a bribe in parallel with the continuing crime of money laundering.

They did not follow the basic principles

“The SCHR did not comply with the basic principles that must be observed when purchasing with public funds, in particular the principles of transparency and equal treatment, as well as the principles of economy and efficiency, which could have affected the outcome of individual public contracts,” stated the chairman of ÚVO Miroslav Hlivák.

Source: TASR – Pavol Zachar

The Administration of State Material Reserves of the Slovak Republic accepts the fines imposed. “Given the seriousness of the violation found by the Public Procurement Office in the public procurements carried out by the previous management of the State Material Reserves Administration of the Slovak Republic, we accept the fines imposed in the specified amounts.” said the chairman of SŠHR SR Ján Rudolf.

Fines for three above-limit contracts

The fines relate to three above-threshold contracts, which were carried out by direct negotiated procedure and subsequently terminated by contracts. The first contract was concluded on 12 March 2020 in the amount of EUR 324,900 excluding VAT, the second contract on 15 March 2020 in the amount of EUR 11.1 million excluding VAT and the third contract on 17 March 2020 in the amount of EUR 18,793,360 excluding VAT. The inspection of the SŠHR procedure at their conclusion revealed multiple violations of the Public Procurement Act.

Source: SITA / Attila Balazs / MTI via AP

However, SŠHR appealed against the findings of the Office at first instance, which means that it also refused to halve the fines in accordance with the law. Following the entry into force of the first-instance decisions, the cases were subsequently the subject of administrative proceedings in which the Office imposed fines of EUR 30 thousand, EUR 30 thousand and EUR 10 thousand, for a total of EUR 70 thousand. “At the same time, I can confirm that the Office is forwarding its conclusions to other supervisory bodies in accordance with the signed memoranda of cooperation. The Office is thus in the proceedings in these matters,” Hlivák remarked.

Non – competitive trend in material reserves

Only less than 9 percent of the volume of purchases competed with material reserves in the COVIDOVO year, even if not openly, she stated. foundation Let’s stop corruption. This trend continues in 2021. Former Prime Minister Igor Matovic said that after the start of his government, instead of stocks of tests and drapes, they found only empty warehouses.

This was done under the former head of material reserves Kajetán Kičura, a nominee of the former government, who is still being prosecuted for bribes in tenders. However, these were not related to COVID procurement. According to the foundation, the state continued the non-competitive trend even later. “His successor Lucia Gocníková also bought without competition. The new chairman Ján Rudolf introduced a dynamic purchasing system instead of open competitions, he decided not to provide data from it during its two-year operation.” stated the foundation.

More than 90% went without competition

Material reserves for 2020 purchased medical equipment in the total value of almost 128 million euros (amounts are stated without VAT). Of this, 116, 5 million euros went to purchases without any competition. The Stop the Corruption Foundation, in cooperation with the Transparex portal, analyzed data from the public procurement of the SŠHR for the years 2020 and 2021, when the country faced a coronavirus pandemic. They provided tests, protective suits, respirators and other aids for hospitals and authorities. The analysis shows that more than 91% of the purchase volumes were contracted with private companies without any competition.

Source: TASR – Jaroslav Novák

Direct negotiations and unknown companies

The reserves used the so-called direct negotiation procedure, ie they addressed one or more companies and negotiated the purchase only with them. By law, they can do so in emergency situations such as a pandemic, which will greatly speed up the process. However, in the case of direct purchases, this means a greater risk that neither the best nor the cheapest supplier will win the public contract. For the first four months, the material reserves purchased medical supplies exclusively through direct negotiations.

Source: TASR / Ján Krošlák

“Kičura then procured drapes and respirators from unknown companies Lacorp and A-testing, for which he was criticized by the new coalition after the change of government. Companies with contracts for 29 and 11 million euros suddenly became the largest suppliers of reserves. these disputed transactions, ‘ stated the foundation.

Some companies, which previously had nothing to do with the healthcare business, suddenly won large orders, even after Kičur’s departure. Although it was not such large sums, they succeeded directly and without competition. An example is the company Autocomodex rent & car, which traded in cars. According to Transparex, it participated in public procurement only once and only on material reserves. “J. Rudolf signed a contract for the supply of medical devices for 50 thousand euros with it,” stated the foundation. “The signing of contracts with the companies IVIO, sro and AUTOCOMODEX rent & car, sro was carried out on the basis of a direct negotiated procedure in electronic form,” stated material reserves for the foundation.

The contract was also concluded by the new management

Cherry Promotion SK was also a newcomer to public procurement. Gocníková signed a contract with her for more than three hundred thousand. “At the same time, it is not registered with the register of public sector partners, which is one of the conditions for trading with state authorities.” stated the foundation. “At present, SŠHR SR is unable to comment on the way in which the former management selected and approached the signing of contracts with other companies listed by you,” a spokeswoman for the SŠHR responded to the questions. It added that, as part of the market investigation carried out at that time, the form had been sent to a number of economic operators in order to verify the possibilities of supplying medical devices.

During the second wave, the state already had enough time to prepare, but they still bought material reserves for almost 60 million euros without competition. Of this, 51 million passed for testing due to nationwide testing, the portal added.