In March 2020, the country purchased eighteen million face masks from O2 Health. The country needed a lot of masks very quickly.
The state will pay more than 56 million euros for protective equipment, it seems Rule from the court. Of this amount, the state paid 45 million euros before the masks were delivered.
In the following months, face masks had already been delivered to the state, but it turned out that there were far fewer than had been agreed upon. In addition, state inspectors have found that a large part of the protective equipment does not meet the quality requirements.
After the state and 02 Health had tried to solve the problems together for a few months, the state decided to dissolve the agreements with the company in May 2021. The state wanted the company to repay a large part of the advance paid (43 million euros).
The case reached court at the end of 2022. O2 Health did not want a refund because the agreement was to quickly deliver as many mouth masks as possible. This is what the company did. According to O2 Health, face masks also generally met quality requirements and government inspections were “inaccurate”. According to the company, the state was therefore not allowed to break the agreements.
But the court agrees with the state and rules that the company must pay 43 million euros. Accordingly ad There is a good chance that the company will go bankrupt. O2 Health itself has not yet wanted to comment because it is likely to appeal.
In a response to the newspaper, the ministry said it would take “appropriate action” to recover the money.