A Belgian health official has been found responsible for “suspected integrity violations” in connection with a Covid-era procurement contract, following a probe of the country’s health ministry.
The preliminary investigation was performed by Belgium’s Federal Internal Audit agency after concerns were raised by medical logistics company Medista over whether a distribution contract had been awarded fairly.
The audit is part of a broader dispute between Medista and the health ministry, led by Frank Vandenbroucke — and also involves secret filming of the government health official by the corporate spy firm Black Cube, contracted by Medista.
In the probe, the agency absolved the health ministry on a number of counts. There was no evidence, for example, that the award of a pandemic-time contract for the distribution of vaccines and medicines had been conducted improperly. The agency also said that the ministry did nothing wrong when it disputed invoices it had contracted with Medista.
It did, however, judge that the health ministry official, who isn’t being named for legal reasons, violated government standards by recommending a lawyer to one of Medista’s rivals, Movianto, in the run-up to the award of the contract.
Speaking to the Belgian parliament’s commission of public health on Tuesday, Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Vandenbroucke said he would take disciplinary action against the official.
Hidden cameras
Late last year, Medista published footage secretly filmed by Black Cube. In the video the civil servant, who believed she was sitting for a job interview, says she had recommended a lawyer to Movianto to help it apply for the procurement contract. That claim sparked the internal probe, the results of which were shared on Tuesday by Vandenbroucke with the parliament commission, as well as with POLITICO.
The ministry originally hired Medista to help with pandemic-era medical distribution. The company engaged Black Cube after after the ministry began to dispute Medista’s invoices, and after it lost the contract in question.
The probe notes that the video and sound recordings that were made public were “extremely fragmentary” and that it is “very difficult — if not impossible — to determine the precise context of the statements.”
However, the Federal Internal Audit agency said the official had confirmed that after first speaking with consultancy Deloitte, which was helping to prepare the tender offer, they had recommended a lawyer to Movianto to help the company apply for the tender.
“By recommending a law firm to Movianto in consultation with a lawyer from Deloitte Legal, she placed both herself and this lawyer in a conflict of interest during the remainder of the tender procedure,” the report reads.
The Federal Internal Audit agency also found that the civil servant had made improper disclosures about how the contract had been awarded, and that the national public health agency — the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment — had failed to protect Medista’s trade secrets. However, the body also noted that the way Medista obtained the footage could be termed “extortion.”
Vandenbroucke informed the parliament that he has passed on the results of the report to the public prosecutor’s office. The minister said he would file a civil case in court to see whether Black Cube’s secret recordings amounted to extortion.
In a written statement to POLITICO, Medista’s Chief Executive Sarah Taybi called the Federal Internal Audit agency’s finding a “first step.”
“However, what we fail to understand is why we first had to commission a private intelligence firm to gather evidence,” said Taybi. She added that the report “shows the tip of the iceberg.”
In an emailed statement, Black Cube said that it was “proud” of its work on behalf of Medista, and that “Black Cube operates strictly according to legal advice from top-tier law firms in each jurisdiction where operations are conducted.”
Vandenbroucke, for his part, suggested that there were lessons for Belgium’s public health agency.
“There are sometimes fundamental misunderstandings … of the applicable rules among the members of the public health agency who carry out public procurement,” Vandenbroucke told the hearing. The minister said he would launch an action plan to fix the problem.