Brazil suspends Covaxin deal with Bharat Biotech amid accusations of irregularities, probe ordered
By Team Newsable | First Published Jun 30, 2021, 10:07 AM ISTBrazil will suspend a $324 million Indian vaccine contract that has mired President Jair Bolsonaro in accusations of irregularities, the health minister said.
Rio De Janeiro: Brazil has suspended around a $324 million contract for Covaxin after accusations were made that President Jair Bolsonaro had turned a blind eye to possible corruption in a deal to purchase the Covid-19 vaccines.
The deal to buy 20 million doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin shot has become a headache for President Jair Bolsonaro after whistleblowers went public with concerns over irregularities.
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Addressing a press conference on Tuesday with Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga, the head of the Federal Comptroller General (CGU) Wagner Rosario, said that the agency will investigate the process of purchasing the vaccine.
"We suspended the deal as a simple preventive measure, since there are complaints that could not be explained well by the complainant, so we opened a preliminary investigation last week," said Rosario, as quoted by CNN Brasil. "We have put in a reinforced team for the verification. We hope to be very quick in this process, and we hope that in no more than 10 days we will already have an answer for this analysis."
As soon as we have more concrete data, we will communicate, he added.
Brazilian federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deal, citing comparatively high prices, quick talks and pending regulatory approvals as red flags for the contract signed in February. The contract is also being probed by a Senate panel investigating the government's handling of the pandemic.
Brazilian President Bolsonaro is being accused of overlooking possible corruption in a deal to purchase coronavirus vaccines. Bolsonaro has slammed the senate committee probing the government's Covid-19 response, saying that it is aimed at undermining his administration.
The two sides signed the contract to purchase Covaxin in February to import 20 million doses of vaccine. Brazilian pharmaceutical company Need Medicines had brokered the deal.
However, the vaccine doses never arrived in Brazil, as the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) denied import requests.
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