Karen Dearne’s latest extraordinary article about the troubled UK firm iSOFT, contains the startling suggestion that the firm lied to the London Stock Exchange about its HealthSMART contract.

According to Dearne:

ISoft Plc reported the successful completion of the HealthSmart contract to the London Stock Exchange in October 2005, but “the contract was not signed until December 2, 2005,” he [government spokesman Ben Hart] said.

“The announcement by iSoft was, in fact, made while negotiations were still under way, and the department had no control over the release of this information.”

That’s right, “the announcement by iSOFT was, in fact, made while negotiations were still under way“. Doesn’t this concern them, just a little?

Documents obtained by the Opposition under Freedom of Information show that in late October the Victorian Government Purchasing Board asked Bronwyn Pike not to sign any contracts with iSOFT pending the board’s investigation.

Five weeks later the contract was signed. Now the authorities in London are investigating claims that iSOFT booked contracts as revenue to boost its balance sheet which has been revised to show massive losses.  It seems they should be investigating whether these contracts were even signed!