By Sara Kovač (Nova24tv)
The memory of the vascular splint affair is still very fresh. The affair revealed how huge the appetites of the health-supplying mafia are. Despite the fact that the then Tarča show did not reveal the connections between Mark Medical and the Slovenian political elite, an individual was able to create a final rough picture of why our healthcare, despite the money invested, does not meet patients’ needs. Although so far the talk in connection with irregularities in the procurement and management of medical equipment and medical supplies has been mostly linked to the largest hospital in the country, the fact is that this is by no means an isolated case. The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Karmen Furman, who is investigating irregularities in the procurement and management of medical equipment and medical supplies, has obtained documentation which shows that the Franc Derganc General Hospital in Šempeter pri Gorici received as much as 416,000 euros fine by mid-February for violating public procurement procedures.
The hospital received such a fine, even though in 2015 they hired an external contractor, the company Preator, for the legal management of the procedures, to which, according to official data, they paid 235 thousand euros for the management of these procedures!
Marjetka Rebek, who worked as an administrator in the public procurement group at the hospital, where she helped prepare and review the documentation, explained at one of the previous hearings that there were illegalities in public procurement procedures. The management was warned about these illegalities, however, they turned a deaf ear to them. Even after the management hired an external contractor to take care of the legal conduct of the proceedings, the violations continued, as further evidenced by the fines the hospital had to pay. It should be emphasised that not all proceedings before the competent authorities have been completed.
No legal basis has been concluded
Primsell company, owned by the brother of Harij Furlan, the first long-time fighter against organised crime, was the only exclusive agent for the supply of hip prostheses at Nova Gorica Hospital. For this reason, it is not surprising that the prices of prostheses in this hospital were the most expensive in Slovenia. At a recent meeting of the commission of inquiry, a new detail came to light that is more than disturbing. The examination of the witness of Aleš Furlan, former owner and director of Primsell, which purchased hip prostheses at the Nova Gorica General Hospital for more than 10 years, revealed that Primsell did not have a legal basis with Lima company for the purchase of hip prostheses. With regard to Primsell, which purchased hip prostheses from the Italian company Lima in Udine, the statement that the company did not have a legal basis with Lima on the basis of which they purchased hip prostheses stands out. According to Furlan, it was all based on trust, which is of course extremely unusual. Especially when it comes to legal entities and large amounts that accumulate in the millions over the years.
For this reason, the commission decided to ask Furlan to submit invoices from the period under investigation within 15 days. In this way, it is possible to determine the purchase price of hip prostheses. In connection to this, it is necessary to point out that the Lima company supplied hip prostheses directly to other hospitals, which are much more distant, directly and not through an intermediary. When questioning Furlan, the commission could not find an answer as to why this was so. The witness also could not explain how the cost of the consignment warehouse was calculated. Furlan admitted, however, that Primsell did not have a contract with the Šempeter Hospital regarding the consignment warehouse, as this was also based on trust or an oral agreement. The truth of this statement will be established at the next confrontation of former hospital directors.
Aleš Furlan has apologised to the commission of inquiry in the past for not being able to come to the hearing. Furlan’s sister-in-law, or Aleš Furlan’s wife, Lidija Furlan, was interrogated before the committee as a co-owner of Primsell Trading Ltd. It is interesting that the interrogated was not able to explain in detail why two companies with the same registered activity actually operated in the family. Namely, Primsell Ltd. supplied hip prostheses only to the Nova Gorica hospital, where Štefančič was employed in the hospital pharmacy, who also had a contract with Primsell Ltd.
Despite the fact that the parliamentary commission completed its work in less than two years in the case of overpaid vascular splints, discovered irregularities and violations, which were notified to the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) by anonymous report two years before the establishment of the parliamentary commission, nothing has happened. Only on the basis of the final report of the parliamentary commission were the first house searches ordered. To this day, however, there is not even a trace of the final epilogue. In February this year, the president of the commission Karmen Furman, when former SDT leader Harij Furlan was also questioned, informed him about the statistics of resolved cases in the field of health corruption at the SDT during his term. In seven years, despite twenty charges, they managed to file only one request for an investigation, and only two convictions were issued. Is it surprising that there was no judicial epilogue in the high-profile Primsell case?
