Ppe Firm Linked To Michelle Mone Misses Deadline To Repay £122m

A institution linked to nan erstwhile Conservative adjacent Michelle Mone has grounded to salary nan authorities immoderate of nan £122m ordered by a precocious tribunal judgment for supplying unusable individual protective instrumentality during nan Covid pandemic.

Mrs Justice Cockerill ruled that PPE Medpro must, by a deadline of 4pm connected 15 October, return nan money it was paid by nan Department of Health and Social Care for 25m sterile surgical gowns nether a statement awarded successful June 2020.

Reacting conscionable earlier 5pm, nan wellness secretary, Wes Streeting, said PPE Medpro had grounded to meet nan deadline and nan authorities would prosecute nan institution for payment. The DHSC said that interest, which has been moving connected nan £122m from erstwhile nan PPE gowns were rejected arsenic unusable successful precocious 2020, was now £23.7m – making nan full owed almost £146m.

“At a clip of nationalist crisis, PPE Medpro sold nan erstwhile authorities substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash,” said Streeting. “PPE Medpro has grounded to meet nan deadline to salary – they still beryllium america complete £145m, pinch liking now accruing daily.

“We will prosecute PPE Medpro pinch everything we’ve sewage to get these costs backmost wherever they beryllium – successful our NHS.”

Interest will now accumulate astatine an yearly complaint of 8%, nan DHSC said.

Questions stay complete how nan authorities tin get its money back, arsenic nan company, owned by Mone’s husband, nan Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, was near pinch small money, and was put into management connected 30 September, nan time earlier nan judgement was handed down.

A spokesperson for Barrowman and Mone has said that nan “consortium partners of PPE Medpro”, a reference to 3 intermediary companies progressive successful nan proviso of gowns, were “prepared to participate into a speech pinch nan administrators of nan institution to talk a imaginable colony pinch nan government”.

Labour look not to person engaged pinch this proposal of a chat astir a settlement, and was waiting for afloat costs to beryllium made by nan deadline.

The DHSC awarded nan £122m gowns statement to PPE Medpro, and different worthy £80.85m for look masks – a full of £203m – aft Mone first approached nan past Cabinet Office curate Michael Gove successful May 2020. The contracts were processed via nan “VIP lane”, operated by Boris Johnson’s Conservative authorities during nan pandemic, which gave precocious privilege to group pinch governmental connections. Mone was appointed to nan House of Lords by David Cameron successful 2015.

She and Barrowman denied done their lawyers for years that they were progressive successful PPE Medpro. In November 2022, nan Guardian revealed that Barrowman had been paid astatine slightest £65m from PPE Medpro’s profits, past transferred £29m to a spot group up to use Mone and her 3 big children.

In December 2023 Mone admitted successful a BBC question and reply that nan mates had lied, and they confirmed their engagement successful nan company. Barrowman acknowledged that he had been paid much than £60m and transferred money into nan trust; nan mates said that his children were beneficiaries arsenic well.