A legal battle over a tender to supply wheelchairs to Mater Dei Hospital has heated up, with the Health Ministry and Europharma Ltd filing two separate counter-protests following a judicial protest filed last week by OK Ltd.
OK Ltd had cried foul about the tendering process won by Europharma Ltd and filed a judicial act against top Health Ministry officials, the director of Biomedical Engineering at Mater Dei and Europharma itself.
But in a counter-protest, Europharma Ltd claimed that the allegations were totally unfounded and based on mere fabrications made by a disappointed bidder who had placed fifth in the adjudication process. Not having won the tender, OK Ltd wanted to cast doubt upon the whole process in the hope of gaining publicity, the court was told.
Europharma Ltd also noted that the Public Contracts Review Board had rejected OK Ltd's claims and no appeal had been filed against the Board's decision.
Moreover, in the counter-protest Europharma Ltd rebutted the allegation that its wheelchairs were not technically compliant and had to be modified to fit the tender specifications. The counter-protesting company insisted that it had won the tender not only because its products satisfied the required criteria but also because its bid was the cheapest.
The tender process was a transparent one and all bidders had been subjected to equal scrutiny, Europharma Ltd stated.
In the other counter-protest, filed by the CEO of the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit, the Director of Biomedical Engineering, the Health Ministry and the Permanent Secretary within the same Ministry, the parties argued that they were non-suited. Moreover, the parties claimed that all allegations made by OK Ltd were unfounded. They denied that the wheelchairs supplied by Europharma Ltd were undergoing alterations so as to fit the tender specifications.
In both counter-protests, the parties called upon the protesting company to refrain from further legal action and held it responsible for any damages it suffered as a result of them.
The counter-protest on behalf of Europharma Ltd was signed by lawyers Antoine Cremona and Chiara Frendo.