Malaysiakini : Why? In any transaction, especially one involving millions of
ringgit, it must be documented. Surely, there was a process before the
order was placed and the money was paid.
There must have been
minutes of discussions, government local orders, delivery notes and
invoices. What does the paper trail show?
Who decided on what type of machine and who approved it?
The PAC report also revealed that the Health Ministry’s legal adviser was not consulted before the ministry issued a letter to appoint Pharmaniaga.
Why China?
The PAC report revealed that the
ministry had ordered 136 ventilators through three suppliers - Entrol
(Hong Kong) Trading Ltd, Hong Kong Smart Int Investment Ltd, and Allied
King Industrial.
How did the ministry identify these Chinese
companies? Were there local agents or did the ministry make the orders
after going through a Chinese trade directory?
Ministry officials
told the PAC that the idea to seek ventilators from China, at a time
when over half of the world was in lockdown, did not originate within
the ministry but rather came from then transport minister Wee Ka Siong.
According to meeting transcripts published in the PAC report, Wee (above) was actively involved in every aspect of the procurement process from China.
This
included getting contacts, identifying suppliers, presenting
quotations, overseeing the transaction, and arranging the transportation
of the ventilators to Malaysia.
Then health secretary-general Dr
Chen Chaw Min said many ministers provided valuable input during
National Security Council meetings, including Wee, whose connection with
China and insights into repatriating Malaysians stranded abroad due to
Covid-19 lockdowns prompted him to step in and assist in the country’s
desperate need for more ventilators.
“He (Wee) gave us a lot of
input that if we were to purchase ventilators from China, we would have
problems with transportation, which MASkargo could assist. That was
where he stepped in.”
Ministry just took the ‘apples’
Of the 136, only 32 of the ventilators had passed the test and certification process after they arrived in Malaysia.
What
was more astonishing was the defence proffered by Health deputy
secretary-general (finance) Norazman Ayob, who said it was a case of the
suppliers delivering them products that the ministry did not order.
But
what did the ministry do? It decided to do nothing – zilch - keep it
stored for the records if the auditor-general decided to come calling.
“Based
on the specifications, which I believe PLSB gave to the suppliers...
but when the ventilators arrived, they were not what we ordered.
“This is not an issue of Health Ministry facilities. (Instead), it is an issue of... we placed an order to get an apple, (but) we got something else,” Norazman told the PAC committee.
Pharmaniaga
chief operations officer Mohamed Iqbal Abdul Rahman reportedly told a
proceeding on Sept 14 that the contract for the ventilators’ procurement
was supposedly between the Health Ministry and the suppliers.
“The
contract is between the ministry and suppliers. Pharmaniaga will be the
forwarding agent and will be the recipient in the country,” he said in
response to a question by PAC member Syahredzan Johan.
There was also no contract made between Pharmaniaga and the suppliers in China, according to the report.
This was not buying kacang putih (chickpeas) or cendol ikat tepi (takeaway) from a roadside stall but life-saving equipment costing millions of ringgit from manufacturers.
If
this man or any other ministry official had been delivered a faulty
refrigerator to their homes, they would have called the dealer to
replace it and sent it to the manufacturer, or demanded a full refund
and if it was not forthcoming, the Consumer Tribunal would have been the
recourse.
Rakyat’s money and lives gone
In
the case of the ventilators, the money did not come from their pockets.
It came from the government (read: taxpayers). So why worry?
How many lives could have been saved if not for the debacle (and that's putting it mildly)?
In July 2021, Free Malaysia Today
quoted a doctor as saying that all the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s eight
wards were full and there were not enough ventilators to go around,
adding that some medical officers had to “play God” by deciding who
should be given ventilators first.
Understandably, at that time the demand far exceeded the supply and everyone was trying to get their hands on ventilators. The ministry probably had little option.
However,
a simple due diligence exercise by checking the background of the
suppliers and liaising with other countries would have prevented the
purchases of faulty ventilators.
Hungary,
for example, was saddled with the same issues and the ongoing inquiry
into similar purchases in England has revealed similar problems.
Missing accountability
However, it appears that the ministry undertook the exercise without any checks of the histories of the suppliers.
In June this year, the Health Ministry said it was not taking action over the supply of defective ventilators.
In
a written Dewan Negara reply, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said
that this was because the emergency procurement of the ventilators had
followed protocols set by the Finance Ministry.
Really? Did the
protocols not require a contract to be vetted by the legal adviser? Did
they allow ministry officials to order and purchase anything they liked?
Besides, were local intermediaries (read: rent collectors) involved in these transactions? Shouldn’t they be held responsible?
The PAC report has raised more questions than what the ministry answered.
The
ministry must come clean. The conduct of those involved in the
procurement process has come under a cloud. The finger-pointing has not
helped either.
But it is not the first time that Malaysians have
learnt about such indiscretions and imprudence. Like previous cases, it
will be swept under the carpet until another incident surfaces. As in
the past, silence will be the golden rule.
