Police have raided the home of fellow Conservative Michelle Mone as part of an investigation into multi-million dollar PPE deals related to a company with which she has ties.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched an investigation into the dealings of PPE Medpro, a company set up by a business associate of Baroness Mone.
Her £11m London home, owned by an offshore company linked to her husband’s Isle of Man business, is among a number of properties NCA officers raided this week.
A special unit within the NCA is understood to have been investigating the allegations for a year. Mirror reports.
(Image: AP)
Medpro PPE won over £200m in Covid contracts from the Department of Health in 2020 after Baroness Mone referred the company to the Cabinet Office via the so-called ‘VIP lane’.
Arrest warrants were executed on Wednesday at four addresses on the Isle of Man, including the Douglas headquarters of the Knox Group of companies, which was founded and is chaired by Mone’s businessman husband, Doug Barrowman.
No arrests were made during the simultaneous raids in London and the Isle of Man, but documents and electronic devices were seized by officers.
Isle of Man police confirmed he was involved in coordinated raids on Wednesday.
A spokesman said: “Isle of Man Police, in support of an ongoing NCA investigation, executed search warrants at four addresses in the Isle of Man. No arrests were made.”
An NCA spokesman said: “The NCA does not routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations or the names of those who may or may not be under investigation.”
But the investigation is believed to be carried out by a team of officers with experience in financial and cross-border crimes.
But the NCA has no jurisdiction in the Isle of Man, which is a self-governing British Crown dependency and a known tax haven.
The Department of Health is in dispute with PPE Medpro over millions of surgical gowns it bought for £122m in 2020.
In total, Medpro PPE won over £200m in PPE contracts at the start of the pandemic. It is not known which Medpro PPE agreement(s) the NCA is investigating.
Medpro PPE was created in May 2020, weeks before it was awarded the first of two PPE contracts for face masks and surgical gowns worth £203m.
When asked about the link at the time, Baroness Mone’s office responded with this quote: “Well done to PPE Medpro for supplying vital equipment to the NHS to combat this terrible virus!”
But her spokesperson added: “Other than that, Baroness Mone has no comment as she has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro.”
(Image: AP)
Once it was made public last year that she had referred Medpro PPE to the Cabinet Office using the ‘VIP lane’, Baroness Mone admitted she took the ‘very simple, lonely and short step’ but insisted she ‘didn’t nothing more regarding PPE.” Medpro”.
But in the leaked WhatsApp messages, Mone was allegedly asked what size gowns were required under the Health Department agreement and replied: “We are about to take off on the plane. The sizes are in the order. We are waiting for the official purchase order [purchase order]this should arrive today.
Mone’s lawyers said he could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.
Sources told The Guardian newspaper that Barrowman, an offshore businessman on the Isle of Man, was “part of the financial consortium that backed” PPE Medpro. But his lawyers said the allegations were “largely incorrect.”
The House of Lords standards commissioner went after Baroness Mone in January following a complaint from Labor peer George Foulkes.
Foulkes asked the commissioners to investigate whether Mone may have breached the Lords’ code of conduct by failing to declare a stake in the company and pressing for government contracts.
According to the House of Lords code of conduct, peers must follow seven principles of standards in public life, integrity and openness.
The code states: “They must not act or make decisions in order to obtain economic or material benefits for themselves, their family or their friends. They must declare and resolve interests and relationships.”
Peers must “submit to scrutiny” and “be truthful”.
(Image: Dave Bennett/Getty Images)
Baroness Mone’s “private office” told the Mirror via email: “Baroness Mone declared her interests and has done nothing wrong at all.”
The government has been criticized for handing out contracts worth billions of pounds without proper scrutiny and for operating a “VIP lane” for PPE suppliers that was made illegal earlier this year.
Just over 55% of the more than 38 billion PPE items purchased at a cost of more than £12 billion went to frontline staff.
The National Audit Office found that 1.5 billion PPE items are past their expiration date, while another 3.6 billion are in storage because they are unfit for first-line use.
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Reference-www.dailyrecord.co.uk