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What do the following allegedly have in common; a small Nottinghamshire-based pharmaceutical company, a pub near the Cotswolds, and an infrastructure investment firm with links to the Chinese state?
Answer: a £40 million PPE supply contract.
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97066bbc-b895-4c95-93d1-39774d5ee886?origin=SearchResults&p=2
What do the following allegedly have in common; a small Nottinghamshire-based pharmaceutical company, a pub near the Cotswolds, and an infrastructure investment firm with links to the Chinese state?
Answer: a £40 million PPE supply contract.
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97066bbc-b895-4c95-93d1-39774d5ee886?origin=SearchResults&p=2
On 25 April, Medicine Box, a firm whose last Companies House filing showed just £48,000 in net assets, won a £40,000,000 PPE contract.
But in June it was reported these materials had yet to arrive, after RBS froze the account of a pub linked to Medicine Box.
Medicine Box had paid The Plough at Cadsden £19.6m in April to source 4 million protective overalls from a Chinese supplier, according to court documents.
Medicine Box had paid The Plough at Cadsden £19.6m in April to source 4 million protective overalls from a Chinese supplier, according to court documents.
The Plough is run by Ms Xinyu Tang, who also incorporated the separate entity ‘Medicine Box Group Ltd’ in March.
The pub she runs was bought by a company called Sinofortone in 2016 following a visit there between David Cameron and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The pub she runs was bought by a company called Sinofortone in 2016 following a visit there between David Cameron and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Ms Xinyu Tang is also the sole director of Sinofortone Investment Ltd, and previously the UK director of other iterations of Sinofortone (Sinofortone Group Ltd & Sinofortone Education Group Lt).
…https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10507485/officers
…https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10507485/officers
The only other director of Sinofortone Investment was businessman Sir Richard Heygate. Heygate was reportedly introduced to Tang by the late Paul Judge, one-time director general of the Conservative Party. https://asiatimes.com/2017/01/sinofortone-ragtag-opportunists-front-beijing/
Judge and Heygate founded the 88 Initiative together, a project aimed at building ties between British and Chinese developers.
https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/88-initiative-putting-guanxi-great-britain/article/1223126#:~:text=The%2088%20Initiative%2C%20a%20venture,came%20up%20with%20the%20idea.
https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/88-initiative-putting-guanxi-great-britain/article/1223126#:~:text=The%2088%20Initiative%2C%20a%20venture,came%20up%20with%20the%20idea.
So why should all of this concern? Nothing is illegal, but why was this contract issued to people linked to repeated venture failures? After all, Sinofortone is behind a string of defunct infrastructure projects in the UK.
These include a reported £10bn investment in Scotland which publicly collapsed, a £30 million project to create a luxury holiday resort in Cornwall, and an intended investment of £100 million in ‘UK Disneyland’ in Kent, before the company dissolved. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/disney-lakeview-bodmin-liverpool-sinofortone-586496?cmpredirect=
The allegation of links to the Chinese state is from 2016, when it was reported Sinofortone withdrew from a memorandum of understanding with the Scottish government after its state-backed partner was linked to human rights abuses in the DRC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-37993124
A director of Sinofortone has also been quoted saying the group’s financing model sees “security initially coming from central government" https://asiatimes.com/2017/01/chinese-investors-spy-nuggets/
Adding that "Private companies. They are better suited to finding good projects. When they find them they can then ask the state for help. They can use state money for investment.”
Sinofortone’s Managing Director Peter Zhang also stated, when asked if his company
Sinofortone’s Managing Director Peter Zhang also stated, when asked if his company
followed Chinese state instructions, that he was “following the Chinese president’s strategy closely… We have used state funded investment support, like the China Development Bank and China Export and Credit Insurance (Sinosure) funding.” https://asiatimes.com/2017/01/sinofortone-ragtag-opportunists-front-beijing/
So… a small Nottinghamshire-based pharmaceutical company wins a £40m award and gives half of it to a pub near the Cotswolds with to a failing infrastructure investment firm with links to the Chinese government. And the promised £40m PPE was - at last report - late or missing...
If this is transparent government contracting, then something is pretty rotten.
Did this concern you? Are you willing to help @allthecitizens reveal more concerning Covid-19 contracts lacking in oversight? If so, please see the thread below: https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1319601008457154565?s=20
Did this concern you? Are you willing to help @allthecitizens reveal more concerning Covid-19 contracts lacking in oversight? If so, please see the thread below: https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1319601008457154565?s=20
