There was no evidence of graft found in the alleged monopoly in supply of medicines to MOH, MACC confirmed.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong said this in his written reply to Klang MP Charles Santiago’s question who requested the results of the commission’s investigation in Parliament on Oct 7.

He said there is no monopoly in the MOH procurement system as it is made on an open tender, where principal appointed agents may participate in an unlimited number of tenders.

 Liew said of the 20 agents registered with MOH, only one agent failed to obtain a drug supply tender during 2013 to 2016, referring to findings by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) that summoned MOH on June 25 2018.

The results of the MACC investigation find that the procurement process decided by the procurement board of MOH is in accordance with the prescribed procedure; and the MOH used standard government procedures, where MOH also negotiates prices with the agent selected as a savings measure.

With this statement, it is hoped that no parties will make any assumption or create confusion about the management of the procurement at the Health Ministry.

Investigation was initiated after a whistleblower reportedly alleged that from 2013 to 2016, the total medicine tender awards by MOH, worth RM3.7 billion, were controlled by six tendering agents. The top three tendering agents were alleged to have collectively been awarded 75.9 per cent of the RM3.7 billion.

Source: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2019/10/08/macc-finds-no-corruption-in-public-drug-procurement/