Private healthcare company Aspen Medical was given more than $1 billion in government PPE contracts, despite having no experience in large-scale procurement, a Four Corners investigation reveals.
Highlights
- Health Minister Greg Hunt wrote and signed a glowing letter of commendation for a politically connected healthcare company while it was in the midst of negotiations with his department for lucrative multi-million-dollar PPE deals.
- Aspen Medical would go on to win taxpayer-funded contracts — without a public tender — worth more than $1.1 billion.
- It has been named in a top-level money laundering investigation in Sri Lanka.
- A Four Corners investigation, in collaboration with Colombo’s Sunday Times, also established that Aspen has been embroiled in an international criminal probe into corruption and money laundering.
- The company’s pre-tax profits have seen the company’s profits soar to $420 million during the pandemic.