Man, 46, arrested in probe into PPE linked to ex-Tory peer Michelle Mone
A man has been arrested in a probe into a PPE firm linked to the husband of former Tory peer Michelle Mone.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said a 46-year-old man is being interviewed in an investigation into how PPE Medpro obtained millions of pounds of PPE contracts. Earlier this year assets linked to Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman were frozen as part of the NCA probe.
The suspect, who has not been named, was arrested at his home. The NCA is investigating after PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Mr Barrowman, 59, was awarded Government contracts worth more than £200 million. Mone, 52, had recommended it to ministers.
In a statement the NCA said: “A 46 year old man from Barnet, London, was arrested this morning at his home address as part of an on-going NCA investigation into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro. He is currently being interviewed by NCA officers.”
The NCA launched an inquiry into “suspected criminal offences” in May 2021. Both Mone – who has had the Tory whip removed – and Barrowman deny wrongdoing.
The company was set up in May 2020, and was awarded two large Government contracts, including one worth £122million for 25 million gowns. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) later said these were not fit for use – which PPE Medpro denies – and were never used.
It was awarded the contract and another worth £81million in June 2020 after Mone referred it to a Government “VIP lane”. The DHSC has since issued breach of contract proceedings over the 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.
Mone has claimed she is being “treated like Pablo Escobar” after having her bank accounts frozen. She denied links to the company, but in an interview with the BBC last December said: “I’m sorry for that, but I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. No one.”
Mone said she had responded to a “call to arms” and had put in a call to Cabinet member Michael Gove saying: “We want to help.” She claimed she had followed Cabinet Office advice about declaring her involvement.
She said: “I was just acting the same way as every other baroness and lord who were also putting names forward.” She claimed she denied her involvement because she didn’t want a “hoo ha” in the press. “We’ve done a lot of good but if we were to say something we have done wrong we should have told the press.”
In a 70-minute documentary funded by PPE Medpro released in November, it emerged that Baroness Mone and her husband have been interviewed by NCA officers. The film revealed new details of the NCA investigation – Mone is suspected of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery.
She said she has been “scapegoated”. But she admitted to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last year that she and her family stand to benefit from the £60million in profits made by the company. These were placed into a trust by her husband.
