A report by Transparency International UK said a “seriously flawed” arrangement, whereby companies bidding for contracts were prioritised if they were referred into a “VIP lane” by their political connections, had “damaged trust in the integrity of the pandemic response”. The report noted that one in five government Covid contracts awarded between February and November 2020 contained one or more red flags for possible corruption and require urgent further investigation.
The group has called for the government to disclose the identities of companies awarded public money through the VIP lane, which was set up by the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care in the early days of the pandemic.
Full story in The Guardian, 22 April 2021
