Six million gowns are due to be delivered to complete two huge PPE contracts signed by the UK Department of Health with a Co Antrim sweet company - significantly more than was previously thought.
Details were revealed in a letter from Health Secretary Matt Hancock in response to The Good Law Project and campaign group EveryDoctor's notification of intention to pursue judicial review claims over the contracts with Clandeboye Agencies Limited, along with others awarded at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The business, which is based at Antrim's Rathenraw Industrial Estate, was awarded one multi-million pound contract on April 28 and a second on May 18 "seemingly without advertising or competitive tendering process".
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The Good Law Project is not accusing Clandyboye Agencies of any wrongdoing, but claims the government "ditched the normal rules that secure good value for public money" because it was having to play catch-up on PPE at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
It said three of the biggest beneficiaries of the government's £5.5bn PPE spend were "companies specialising in pest control, a confectionery wholesaler and an opaque private fund owned through a tax haven".
Lawyers for Clandeboye have said it had already "concluded a substantial contract with NHS Wales for the supply of PPE" and had "further interest" from Northern Ireland health chiefs when the contracts were awarded.
The Welsh contract was for "200,000 items of PPE" and "secured it priority status when (UK Department of Health) considered its offer".
The Good Law Project, fronted by high profile barrister Jolyon Maugham QC, claims the government has "ignored" the usual rule that contracts should be published within 20 days.
Mr Hancock denied its allegations that none of the contracted PPE for frontline health staff has been delivered, but confirmed there are still six million gowns scheduled to come from Clandeboye.
The correspondence published by Mr Maugham revealed the minister initially stated that just 40,000 was still to be delivered, but revised that number to the significantly higher figure in a second letter this week.
"Matt Hancock's lawyers have just written to us on our Clandeboye PPE (judicial review) telling us that when they said all but 40,000 gowns had now been delivered what they really meant was that all but 6,000,000 gowns had been delivered," Mr Maugham said.
"(The) new letter... corrects from 40k to 6 million."
The British government said millions of gowns "under the first contract have all now been made and paid for" and the remaining PPE is being "shipped on a weekly basis and are scheduled to conclude on 3 August 2020".
According to professional networking site LinkedIn, family-run Clandeboye Agencies "is a food & beverages company".
It advertises itself as "continually (introducing) new products to serve the requirements of our customers and distribute many well loved, quality brands as well as our exclusive own brand products... also services such as coffee and slush machine rentals along with freshly roasted coffee beans".
Its solicitor said a "sister company... has supplied PPE for a number of years" but it was chosen "to make offers to the Secretary of State for PPE as Clandeboye Agencies Limited is the original family business to which a key director (to both companies) devotes most of his time".
It has "extensive experience in international sourcing" and has "a supply agreement with a multi-national experienced PPE manufacturer".
The lawyers said 3.4 million PPE units have already been delivered "with now only two shipments of gowns outstanding, which are on course to be supplied before their contracted date".
"At no time have concerns been raised as to the quality and timeliness of the PPE our client has supplied.
"... Our client has successfully supplied a huge amount of PPE that, as recognised by the Secretary of State, has been vital for the protection of public health.
"It is impossible in the circumstances to understand what possible public interest could be served by a challenge to the award of the contracts, let alone a disruption to further supplies."
Other contractors singled out for the litigation are Crisp Websites Limited, Pestfix and Ayanda contracts.
Ayanda, a private equity and currency trading company owned through an offshore holding firm based in the tax haven of Mauritius, was awarded a £252.5m contract.
