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A company from Heerhugowaard has to repay the state 43 million euros for the supply of defective masks during the corona crisis. The Alkmaar court decided this at the end of last month, he writes the CEO.
The O2 Health company specializes in equipment to improve air quality. It signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health in March 2020 for the supply of 18 million FFP2 masks for healthcare workers. An amount of €56 million has been agreed; more than 3 euros per mask. The same month, the government paid a $45 million down payment.
Almost certainly bankrupt
However, the company was unable to deliver the promised number of masks on time, and the delivered masks did not meet the quality requirements, according to random checks. Sometimes the filters weren’t right, sometimes the fit wasn’t right. The CE certification was also missing.
In May 2021, the government decided to terminate the agreement. O2 Health was called upon to repay 43 million euros of the total advance of 45 million. The Alkmaar court agrees.
For O2 Health, the ruling means some failure. The company is likely to appeal, according to the CEO.
According to the ministry, O2 Health is the only company against which a lawsuit is pending for refused masks or for non-delivery.
Serious lack of ministry
In mid-2021, the Court of Auditors concluded in a critical report that the Ministry of Health had illegally spent 5.1 billion euros of taxpayers’ money on corona material, such as masks, in the previous year. For 40 percent it was not clearly demonstrated what happened to them. “We found that financial management was below the required level”, wrote the Court of Auditors, which spoke of “a serious deficiency”.
The ministry said in response to the report that the corona crisis has led to the adoption of unprecedented measures.
The ministry’s most striking deal was the so-called €100m Sywert deal. Businessman and prominent CDA Sywert van Lienden and his partners Bernd Damme and Camille van Gestel said the deal was a non-profit, but it later became clear that the three had made millions of euros themselves .
