'Potential whitewashing': COVID inquiry criticised after saying it won't hear from PPE suppliers

Module five of the inquiry aims to analyse the procurement of PPE (personal protective equipment) when the country was struck by the global coronavirus pandemic back in March 2020.

The module, which starts on Monday, comes against the backdrop of the government at the time - led by former Tory leader Boris Johnson - being found by the High Court to have "unlawfully" used a "VIP lane" - where some PPE contracts were handed over following referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials.

But the inquiry concluded it did not need to hear evidence from suppliers in order to investigate the issue as "its focus is on how the government responded to suppliers' offers".

Procurement

A spokesperson for the UK COVID-19 Inquiry told Sky News: "The UK COVID-19 Inquiry is starting four weeks of detailed oral evidence for our fifth investigation, Procurement.

"Fifty people will appear as witnesses covering a wide range of topics, including in the first days an expert in procurement, the government's former chief commercial officer, and director general lead for PPE at the Department of Health and Social Care.

"The inquiry does not need evidence from individual companies about specific orders of PPE to investigate this issue thoroughly. Its focus is on how the government responded to suppliers' offers.

"Our role is not to pursue criminal investigations into individuals or suppliers - that is a matter for law enforcement.

"All witness evidence will help the inquiry chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, to investigate procurement fully and ultimately make recommendations for the future."

But Naomi Fulop, from the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, called it an "inexplicable decision to protect these corporations from public scrutiny".

She said it "smacks of a potential whitewash" and that it made "achieving real justice for the COVID-19 bereaved families less likely".

"While thousands died during the pandemic, suppliers of PPE were using government contacts to line their pockets," Ms Fulop said. "The inquiry must hear from those suppliers directly.

"This might be the only chance we have to uncover the true extent of the corruption and profiteering that happened during the pandemic - the inquiry owes it to the bereaved families not to waste that chance."

At a preliminary hearing for module five in December, the inquiry's senior counsel Richard Wald QC said the inquiry team did not consider it was "generally necessary to seek evidence from individual companies about specific offers of PPE" in order to conduct an effective investigation.

"Such evidence is unlikely to assist the inquiry's understanding of the institutional or systemic response to the challenges of public procurement of key health care equipment and supplies during the pandemic," he said.

Baroness Hallet ruled in January that evidence about supplier PPE Medpro would have to be held in private to avoid prejudicing any potential criminal investigation.

The bereaved claim there are many other suppliers who could still be called to give evidence on how they were awarded contracts.

PPE Medpro

The row around PPE Medpro started back in 2020, when reporters first began asking questions about Baroness Michelle Mone's apparent links to the company.

In 2021, the government revealed the baroness, who became a Conservative life peer in 2015, had referred PPE Medpro via the VIP lane system, with the company awarded two contracts worth £200m.

Baroness Mone faced allegations she profited from the business, a claim she initially denied.

In November 2023, she and her husband, Doug Barrowman, confirmed for the first time they were involved in the company - including that he chaired and led the operation, and put up half the money for PPE Medpro.

She also admitted her family stood to benefit from the £60m in profits made by the company.

In December 2023, Baroness Mone, who was interviewed alongside her husband, told a YouTube documentary - funded by PPE Medpro - they had "done nothing wrong".

The inquiry has been set up to examine the UK's response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to learn lessons for the future.

-SKY NEWS