Thread by @BritishGQ

The counterparty puzzle:
The curious case of the Miami jewellery designer, the UK government’s £12.5 billion PPE scandal and the lawyer - @JolyonMaugham - on its trail... @jonathanheaf reports. #longreads
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

Before Michael Saiger won at least six PPE contracts worth in excess of £200 million from the UK’s Department Of Health And Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) last year, he designed stylish gold and silver bracelets. His jewellery brand became successful, fast. bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

In January last year, while talking to one of his global teams, Saiger first learnt about Covid-19. Unlike so many, he tells @jonathanheaf, he knew immediately the impact the virus would have globally. 
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

“I started buying masks and supplies. For my friends, my family, for charities and organisations here… I knew that once this thing hit, we weren’t going to be able to get this stuff. And guess what? That was exactly what happened.” - Saiger
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

It was between January and April 2020 that Saiger’s story got really interesting and increasingly complex. Despite huge media interest, this is the first time he has agreed to be interviewed about what happened during those extraordinary few months.
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

The timeline regarding the procurement of PPE by the UK government is clear, if labyrinthine. On 31 January 2020 the UK government made PPE stocks from the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Programme (PIPP) available for release, in preparation for an increase in demand.

However, by mid-March the @DHSCgovuk realised these stocks were woefully inadequate and over the weekend of 20-21 March something called the Parallel Supply Chain was established to procure additional, urgent PPE for UK hospitals and frontline workers.
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

This extra PPE was to be “open-sourced”, meaning the government called for help from across the UK and internationally. bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

Subsequently, it would turn out, many of these large contracts would be awarded to previously unknown and inexperienced suppliers of PPE, without competition. bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

The government claims it had to override the usual rules for public procurement because it was responding to an emergency. bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

On 23 March the prime minister announced England would go into lockdown. On 19 April Saiger, through the newly set up public portal for PPE procurement, registered his interest in supplying PPE to the DHSC.
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

What is indisputable is that these contracts would make Saiger’s company, and others involved in this enterprise, an awful lot of money, one way or another – money that, eventually, would have to be stumped up by the UK taxpayer.
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

This is money that should be accounted for, openly and transparently, not so much by Saiger and the other suppliers, you might argue, but certainly by the UK government.
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

The government’s lack of transparency over the contracts it awarded during this period are now under intense scrutiny, which is calling into question the state of modern democracy in the UK. bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ

Here, @jonathanheaf speaks to Michael Saiger and @JolyonMaugham, the founder of the @GoodLawProject, a not-for-profit that has litigated the government on Brexit and PPE. Read the full report 👇
bit.ly/PPEScandalGQ