CVC orders probe in mosquito net purchase -Governance Now

CVC orders probe in mosquito net purchase

Swiss multinational supplies nets at different rates to different states, NGO alleges foul play

GN Bureau | March 22, 2012

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has ordered a probe in the alleged corruption in the purchase of mosquito nets from a Swiss multinational, a civil society agency said in a release on Thursday.

CVC has handed over the investigation of alleged high-level corporate corruption to RS Shukla, joint secretary and chief vigilance officer of the health ministry, asking him to complete his investigation in three months and submit a report.

The matter relates to a Swiss Multinational company Vestergaard Frandsen Group SA’s Indian subsidiary Vestergaard Frandsen India Private limited.

National RTI Forum, a Lucknow-based NGO working in the field of transparency in governance, had written to the CVC that Vestergaard Frandsen India (a subsidiary of Swiss multinational Vestergaard Frandsen Group SA) had supplied “long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net” (LLIN) to various states at different rates.

LLIN is of great need in all humid, forest areas where mosquitoes are a menace and many states and public authorities purchase the LLINs for distribution among the poor and needy people. Vestergaard Frandsen is among the largest suppliers of LLINs in India as in many other countries of the world.

Nutan Thakur, convener of the RTI Forum, has said that the company supplies LLINs either through direct contract or through some intermediaries, but the rates of LLINs in both the cases vary in a large range, which points to a foul play.

As per the records available, the rate of supply of LLINs has varied between Rs. 199 per unit to Rs. 400. No due process has been adopted in placing orders, the Forum has alleged, adding that this shows the active connivance of public authorities and the company and its intermediaries in looting the state fund in the name of the poor.

Thakur has also alleged that in case of Assam, the intermediary (Ms Global Business Services Private Limited, New Delhi) purchased LLINs from Vestergaard Frandsen India Private limited before the contract with Assam at the rate of Rs. 295 and later supplied the same to the state government at Rs. 400.

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