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The prosecution declares the lawsuit filed before the Vilnius Regional Court null and void, requesting that the transactions concluded regarding the acquisition of rapid COVID-19 EXPRESS tests and the award of 4,142,600 euros to the state of the company Profarma be declared invalid.
The acquisition of this evidence is currently the subject of a pre-trial investigation.
As LRT wrote last year, although the rapid tests were purchased from Profarma, they were manufactured by the Austrian company Ameda labordiagnostik GmbH.
According to LRT’s research department, the amount transferred for testing from Profarmai soon went to another newly established company, Bona Diagnosis. It was she who settled for the supplier of the rapid tests purchased.
The average cost of a test was about 12 euros.
LRT wrote that it has data that producers of 6 million. The transaction could have cost slightly more than 1.5 million euros. euros.
6 people were suspected
6 people were charged with fraud, money laundering, misuse, forgery or possession of a forged document. Lukas Savickas, a former adviser to Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, who was elected to the Seimas in the autumn, was also questioned as a special witness in this case.
As announced by LRT.lt, it was he who gave the order to make the purchase urgently.
During this pre-trial investigation, law enforcement agencies received data on the possible violation of the public interest when the National Public Health Laboratory and the company entered into a public purchase agreement with Profarma for 510,000 tests, the value of the contract (VAT included) was 6,050,000 euros.
During the examination of the documents, the prosecutors of the Public Interest Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office established that the sale contract had been concluded after the public procurement had been carried out through unannounced negotiations.
It was concluded in violation of the principle of transparency enshrined in the Public Procurement Law. It was established that the norm established in the Public Procurement Law that funds destined to the purchase of goods, services or works must be used in a rational manner was also violated during the contracting and execution of the contract.
Without evaluating the other offers submitted, without looking for a supplier who could perform rapid tests at a competitive price, accepting the price offered by the company, the contract entered into may have paid significantly more than the market rates.
Given the circumstances, the prosecutors, in the public interest, ask the court to declare the agreements concluded invalid and to award the State more than 4 million euros from the companies. Eur (4,142,600).
It is recalled that the pre-trial investigation for the purchase of rapid COVID-19 tests is still ongoing and the planned procedural steps are being taken.
The investigation is carried out by officials of the Special Tasks Board of the Financial Crimes Investigation Service, and is organized and controlled by prosecutors from the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Attorney General’s Office and the Third Division of the Attorney General’s Office. the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office. In order not to jeopardize the ongoing pre-trial investigation, no more detailed information is currently provided.
15 minutes recalls that the rapid tests were purchased from Profarma, an Austrian company, Ameda labordiagnostik GmbH.
Lina Mecelicienė, representative of Pro Aris, the official distributor of Ameda’s Austrian products, has said that they offered a quick test at three times lower prices to the Ministry of Health on March 18, but did not receive any attention. He claimed that the company offered Lithuanian customers rapid tests for the same price: € 3 excluding VAT.
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