Velindre Cancer Centre: Concerns raised over construction firms

Last week, senior managers from the Velindre NHS Trust told the Senedd’s Public Accounts Committee that the trust was aware of the case against Sacyr when it announced its choice of developers in July 2022.

The trust found out about the case against Kajima Corporation in February 2023 via the press – almost two years after the company was convicted.

The trust said its processes had been carried out “to the letter of the law”.

They explained Kajima Corporation had no link to the project despite its subsidiary being one of the companies delivering it.

They also said because Sacyr’s appeal is still live, there is no legal issue with the contract.

However, Sacyr must tell Velindre if there is “any change of circumstance”.

According to the trust, if Sacyr’s appeal fails, the firm will have to show it has taken steps to put things right – a process known as “self-cleaning”.

That is something both companies have already engaged in anyway, the trust told the committee.

“If [Sacyr] were able to evidence that sufficient self-cleaning measures had been taken to satisfy all the requirements, then it would be likely that we would continue with that organisation,” the trust’s Interim Executive Director of Strategic Transformation Lauren Fear told the committee.

“If they didn’t, that would be grounds for termination of the contract at that stage.”