An anti-corruption charity says it has identified significant concerns in more than £15.3 billion of contracts awarded by the Conservative government during the Covid pandemic, the equivalent of one in every £3 spent.

Transparency International UK found 135 “high-risk” contracts with at least three red flags – warning signs of the risk of corruption.

Twenty-eight contracts worth £4.1 billion were awarded to companies with known political connections, while 51 contracts worth £4 billion went through the “VIP lane” to companies recommended by MPs and peers, which the High Court ruled was unlawful. .

A Conservative spokesperson said: “Government policy was in no way influenced by donations the party received – they are completely separate.”

Transparency International UK analyzed 5,000 contracts for red flags.

The charity said its analysis also indicated that almost two thirds of high-value contracts for the supply of items such as masks and protective medical equipment during the pandemic, totaling £30.7 billion, were awarded without competition .

Eight more contracts totaling £500 million were awarded to suppliers more than 100 days old – another red flag for corruption.

The usual safeguards designed to protect the bidding process for government contracts from corruption were suspended during the pandemic.

The Boris Johnson-led government justified this at the time by stressing the need to shorten the bidding process to speed up the supply of much-needed items such as personal protective equipment (PPE).

But Transparency International UK, which is launching its third module on Monday and is a key partner in the Covid-19 investigation, said the suspension of normal safety measures was often unjustified, costing the public billions of dollars and undermining political institutions. Confidence in me decreased.

It is urging authorities to investigate the high-risk contracts it has identified.

The charity said it has written to the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a detailed overview of the findings and the contracts involved.

Chief executive Daniel Bruce said: “We find a number of red flags in the contacts of more than £15 billion, a third of all such spending, which point to more than coincidence or incompetence.”

He further said that “the COVID procurement response was marked by various points of systemic weakness and political choices that allowed cronyism to flourish, all made possible by grossly inadequate public transparency.

“As far as we can ascertain, no other country has used a system like the UK’s VIP lanes in its Covid response.

Mr Bruce added: “The cost to public money has already become clear due to the huge losses caused by unusable PPE from inefficient suppliers.” “We strongly urge that the COVID-19 investigation and the planned COVID Corruption Commissioner ensure full accountability and that lessons learned be swiftly implemented by the new government.”

Of the total £48.1 billion of public money spent on private sector contracts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, £14.9 billion was written off by the Department of Health and Social Care.

According to another, about £1 billion of that was spent on PPE that was deemed unfit for use NGOSpotlight on corruption.

The National Audit Office’s investigation into public procurement during the pandemic, Published November 2020No evidence was found of ministerial involvement in procurement decisions or contract management.