HAND sanitiser was bought up by mandarins to fight Covid in prisons at £35 a litre – at the same price as a bottle of David Beckham’s posh single malt whisky.
Nearly 75,000 bottles were purchased of the alcohol-based cleaner when the pandemic took hold earlier this week.
One UK supplier is currently offering sanitiser for £3 a 500ml bottle – or a tiny fraction of the amount paid by the MoJ.
The boss of Site Supply which sold the Ministry of Justice the sanitiser said he could not believe the price being paid for the hand cleaner for use in prisons.
Martin Bullock, managing director of The Site Supply Company said his company were not profiteering and the price went up because manufacturers prices went through the roof in the pandemic.
He said: “It was a crazy time and there was raw panic of people trying to get hold of sanitiser. It does look ridiculous and scandalous. Someone has made a killing, but I can assure you it was not us.
“We were making a lot less than normal as our profit margins went down. If we were making £30 a bottle, I would be on a beach now.”
The £35 per litre price tag is equal to a litre of David Beckham’s Haig Club single malt whisky brand or a 24 crate of 500ml Carling lager cans.
The MoJ said the order was placed for HM Prisons and Probation Service at the height of the pandemic when there were global shortages forcing up the price.
A spokesperson said: “We were able to secure enough hand sanitiser during a global shortage to help stop the spread of coronavirus and save lives.”
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