The Prosecutor General’s Office has reached out to the country’s anti-corruption watchdog following an LRT investigation into a 1.2-million-euro contract for medical training during the pandemic.
On March 26, Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga ordered the Centre of Excellence of Healthcare and Pharmacy Specialists to buy online courses for doctors on how to treat Covid-19 patients, according to LRT Investigation Team.
The next day, the Crisis Research Centre became a provider of the courses and signed a 1.2-million-euro contract. The Health Ministry did not reveal details of the negotiation.
Under the contract, a two-hour course for one doctor cost 375 euros (187.5 euros per hour). A few weeks later, Veryga instructed to organise similar training at Vilnius University (VU) where each hour cost eight euros – 24 times less than the one provided by the private company.
Before becoming health minister, Veryga worked at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU). The shareholders of the Crisis Research Centre are also employees at the LSMU.
After LRT published the investigation last week, a group of representatives of the Seimas opposition parties turned to the General Prosecutor’s Office regarding the possible corruption in the Health Ministry.
The prosecutor then turned to the Special Investigation Service (STT), the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, to decide whether to start a criminal investigation.
Commenting on the LRT investigation, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said that responsible authorities must examine the question.
“During the pandemic, all procurements were carried out in accordance with the Public Procurement Law that was valid at the time. Our institutions, especially the Public Procurement Office, must make conclusions if they see that any procurement was illegal,” Skvernelis told LRT.lt
According to Veryga, the Health Ministry bought courses from the suppliers that were available at the time.
“At the time when we needed to train thousands of doctors and nurses to use vital equipment, we did not have weeks [to spare]. It was a matter of days,” Veryga said, explaining why the VU course purchased several weeks later was much cheaper.
Read more: Lithuania overpaid for unusable Covid-19 tests. Traces lead to prime minister – LRT Investigation
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