Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the government to amend the procurement law after a recent overpricing row, business daily Vedomosti said on Wednesday.
Medvedev saw red after presidential aide Konstantin Chuichenko reported on a gross overpricing of medical equipment in the Rostov region, where several x-ray machines, were bought on a government contract for 90.3 million rubles ($3 million) each - almost three times the manufacturer's price, 34.5 million rubles ($1.1 million).
The price soared because the x-ray machines were bought via two intermediaries, one in Britain and the other in Russia, Chuichenko said.
"This is an absolutely cynical and gross theft of government money. This cannot be tolerated anymore," Medvedev said.
"First of all, it attracts wild hatred from our people and, secondly, it creates a negative image of the country," he said.
The amendments will see that medical equipment is bought with regard to manufacturers' prices. The government will also introduce unified requirements for the equipment and price monitoring.
But the overpricing, however gross, was quite legal, a government official said, since the maximum price of a government contract is not stipulated by law and is set by the customer with regard to the budget limit.
The procurement law originally contained mistakes and amendments would be of little help, Alexander Stroganov from the government contract center said. Unless there is a centralized control over purchases, overpricing and corruption will continue to thrive.
The Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service official said, however, that medical equipment should be sold in an auction.
MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
