Gardaí probe awarding of hospital contracts

GARDAÍ have launched a criminal investigation into the awarding of a series of building contracts worth €3.3m by Beaumont Hospital between 1998 and 2001.

Details of the potential fraud emerged at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee yesterday after a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General highlighted how all the contracts had been won by the same firm.

It also revealed that bogus quotations from non-existent companies had been supplied to create the impression that a proper competition had taken place for the way contracts were awarded.