Karnataka Covid-19 ‘scam’: What does the Michael D’Cunha report say?

Health workers collecting samples for COVID-19 swab test at a government hospital in Bengaluru in September 2020, during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
| Photo Credit: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

The alleged multi-crore irregularities in COVID-19 procurements and management by the previous BJP government in Karnataka is the latest ‘scam’ to rattle the State. The controversy has garnered eyeballs as the interim report by the commission headed by retired High Court judge John Michael D’Cunha has recommended the prosecution of the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and his Minister for Health and Family Welfare B. Sriramulu, as reported in a series of exclusive stories by The Hindu.

The interim report was submitted to the State government by the commission on August 31, but its contents had not been made public. However, extracts from the report available with The Hindu had revealed irregularities over the purchase of three lakh PPE kits from two Chinese firms in April 2020 at exorbitant rates though there was “no compelling reason”.

The report has found several procedural and administrative lapses in the purchase orders worth over ₹918.34 crore issued by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) towards procurement of medical equipment, PPE kits, masks, ICU units, CT scanners, baby incubators, and other consumables during the financial years 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.

The report finds that the PPE kits were procured through direct purchase orders without any tenders or exemption granted from the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999, from DHB Global Hong Kong (China) and Big Pharmaceuticals at a cost of over ₹2,000 per unit.

On November 14, 2024, the Karnataka government decided to order a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged ‘scam’. A Cabinet meeting, presided over by CM Siddaramaiah, took the decision to form the SIT, which would be headed by an officer of the rank of Inspector-General of Police (IGP).