After PPE kits, now ventilators: More corruption found in BJP’s Covid response

Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s committee, which looked into the alleged Covid-19 scam that took place during the BJP-led government, has now exposed corruption in ventilator procurement. After irregularities in PPE kit purchases, ventilators have also come under the scanner, with the report revealing discrepancies amounting to Rs 173.26 crore in purchases made by the Medical Education Department.
The findings point to missing, uninstalled, and unaccounted-for ventilators, even as payments were made to questionable suppliers. Sun Zen Enterprises, which was contracted to deliver 490 ventilators for Rs 71.77 crore, supplied only 477 units, of which just 402 were installed. Ventilators worth Rs 13.39 crore remain untraced. Encarta Pharma, another supplier, claimed to have delivered 647 ventilators worth Rs 105.87 crore in five consignments. However, no payment receipts or stock records exist to support these claims, raising suspicions of embezzlement.
The report highlights severe lapses in procurement processes, with official files containing invoices but lacking crucial documentation like payment details and stock verification. Senior officials, including the Director of the Medical Education Department, have been implicated in the scam, and the committee has recommended disciplinary action against them along with the recovery of funds from the suppliers.
“The BJP has made huge money out of Covid. There are irregularities in PPE kits, ventilators. We will punish them,” Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said, responding to the findings of Justice D’Cunha’s report.
This comes only a few days after Siddaramaiah’s government approved the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the alleged Covid scam during the previous BJP government.