Contracts, Data and Investigations – COVID-19: Edition 2020-08-14
This week: face masks and fake tenders in Africa, battles for public contract records in Europe
This newsletter gathers stories covering the use and abuse of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Let us know about your stories and content. We, Sophie and Georg, would love to hear about them.
All eyes are on Africa this week, as data from Nigeria’s public contracting portal shows the health ministry bought face masks at US$50 a piece, reports The Nation’s Moses Emorinken.
In Ghana, Anas Aremeyaw Anas goes undercover for BBC Africa Eye to reveal how some hospital staff have been selling PPE for personal profit.
A confidential government audit shows Niger spent hundreds of millions of dollars on inflated international arms deals, according to an investigation by the OCCRP’s Mark Anderson, Khadija Sharife, and Nathalie Prevost.
In Kenya, a former MP has been arrested after allegedly issuing a fake defence contract to an unsuspecting businesswoman, while pocketing a down payment of close to US$10,000.
Journalists and civil society groups are battling to obtain records for Covid-19 contracts. France’s access information commission CADA has ruled that a public health agency could not use “trade secrets” as a reason for declining a public request for information on its mask contracts. The request was made by the online journal Mediapart, which said it had managed to investigate shortages of protective masks thanks to the contribution of whistleblowers.
In the UK, the Good Law Project has taken legal action to try to obtain contracting documents related to several PPE purchases valued in the millions. This week, the non-profit campaign group questioned the government’s awarding of at least 11 deals to a pest control company with net assets of £19,000 and 16 staff.
Finally, Mongabay’s Hans Nicholas Jong examines the scandal shedding light on high-level bribery in infrastructure projects in Indonesian Borneo, with data from Indonesian Corruption Watch showing corruption in public works is on the rise.
For our recommendations, resources and tools, check our COVID-19 resource page.
This newsletter has been put together by the Open Contracting Partnership. Comments? Suggestions? Got a story to share? Write to Sophie or Georg at media@open-contracting.org. Thanks for reading.
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