Whistle blower was ignored for years

Michael Flanigan, a successful Belfast lawyer, wrote to the Northern Ireland Health Service in 1998 detailing how legal business was not being allocated on a fair and equal basis.
At the time, almost all health service contracts were going to George Brangam, a unionist, who operated a virtual monopoly on its legal business.
Flanigan argued that the denial of equality opportunity created a closed shop and meant the health service wasn’t getting value for money.
However, health service chiefs rejected his arguments and robustly defended the procurement system for legal services.
In recent days, however, the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee described Brangam’s relationship with the health service as “one of the worst examples of bad procurement practice” it has ever seen.
A report stated: “It is unbelievable that the Select List for legal services lasted for 12 years, preventing other firms from entering this market.”
Speaking to the Irish Echo, Flanigan, who blew the whistle on the scandal a decade ago said it was “unbelievable” government officials had failed to heed his warnings.
“I raised my concerns with the equality commission, but they refused to support the case,” he said.
“I managed to get this firm on the list of legal providers but that was meaningless because while the list was designed to create a competitive market and trusts and boards were supposed to shop around, in reality they gave all their work to one firm.
“The real issue for me isn’t the theft of money by Brangam, but who created and facilitated a procurement system now described by the public accounts committee as ‘unbelievable’.”
The chairman of the committee, Paul Maskey, has spoken with Flanigan about his whistle-blowing efforts, and has pledged to ask more probing questions of health service chiefs about the procurement process.
“People are entitled to know that public procurement practices are not corrupt or shoddy but are fair, equal and provide value for money,” Maskey said.
“That didn’t happen in this case and if we find there was collusion between officials and Brangam, we won’t hesitate to call in the police for a criminal investigation.”
The health service chief executive has stated that no one would be disciplined over the Brangam scandal.
“Our Committee intends bringing the department back in and I will be asking hard questions based on the latest information brought to light by Michael Flanigan,” added Maskey.
A senior partner in legal firm Brangam, Bagnall and Co., George Brangam died in August 2007.
At the time of his death, he was under investigation by the PSNI’s fraud squad for his work on National Health Service compensation proceedings.