The Special Tribunal has ruled that the allocation of a R113 million personal protective equipment (PPE) contract to LNG Scientific was both invalid and unlawful. This Centurion-based company secured the tender from the Gauteng department of health during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
In a default judgment handed down on 7 February 2024, the Tribunal ordered that LNG be divested of all profits enjoyed under the invalid contract.
LNG is owned by Letloega Thabiso Lekoana.
LNG was ordered to submit audited statements within 30 days setting out its income and expenses in relation to the PPE items it delivered to the Gauteng health department pursuant to the impugned contract supported by expert reports. LNG was also ordered to pay the legal costs.
The SIU was ordered to file expert report on the reasonableness of the income and expenses set out in LNG statements.
An SIU investigation in the affairs of Gauteng health department has found that competitive bidding process was not followed and deviation from this process was not duly approved, and the contracted prices were high.
Furthermore, the SIU found that LNG was not registered on the government’s Central Supplier Database for the supply of PPE when it was awarded the multimillion-rand contract.
