MICHELLE Mone could be interviewed under caution as police investigate a £200 million Covid PPE deal, it has been reported.
According to the Daily Mail, the Scottish businesswoman and Tory peer is in line to be quizzed by the National Crime Agency, which has raided her London home and five other properties as part of a probe into PPE Medpro.
The firm received £200m in public funds during the pandemic to supply medical gowns and face masks after being referred by Mone via a special “VIP lane”, which was found to be illegal.
The baroness has denied any wrongdoing.
PPE Medpro – which was only incorporated in the UK in May 2020 – bought 25m gowns from a Chinese firm for £46m and sold it on for £122m, according to documents seen by The Guardian.
The gowns were rejected after an inspection by the health service and ultimately never used.
Mone’s £11m London home – one of a string of properties raided by officers this week – is owned by an offshore company linked to her husband, Doug Barrowman.
Warrants were executed at four addresses on the Isle of Man on Wednesday, including the headquarters of the Knox Group, which Barrowman founded and chairs.
No arrests were made but documents and electronic devices were seized.
Mone previous claimed she had “no role or involvement” with PPE Medpro, but conceded she had been involved in the “very simple, solitary and brief step” of recommending it through the VIP lane.
The peer insisted she “did not do anything further in respect of PPE Medpro”. She has consistently denied being "connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.
She has been asked to explain why leaked Whatsapp messages allegedly show her discussing the company’s affairs.
Mone allegedly wrote: “We are just about to take off in the jet. The sizes are in the order. We are waiting for the official PO [purchase order], this should come in today.”
Her lawyers said she could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.
The Tory baroness is also facing an investigation by the Lords Standards Commissioner, Martin Jelley. He announced in January he is probing whether Mone should have declared an interest in PPE Medpro or if she broke any lobbying rules.
The move follows a complaint by Labour peer George Foulkes.
According to a statement on the commissioners’ website, the investigation covers potential breaches of provisions in the code of conduct banning peers from accepting financial inducements for exercising parliamentary influence and requiring them publicly to declare all relevant interests.
Last week, the UK Government refused to release documents relating to the PPE Medpro deal. Ministers insisted the files are “commercially sensitive”, adding they are now in mediation about products supplied by the firm.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “The Government’s failure to come clean about the millions of taxpayers’ money awarded to Tory-linked Medpro reeks of a cover-up.
“The fact that Medpro is in mediation for providing useless PPE is no excuse for failing to be transparent with the public. It only strengthens the need for clarity about how this eye-watering waste was allowed to happen.”
Mone was made a life peer by David Cameron in 2015 after selling an 80% stake in her Ultimo lingerie company.
Her legal representative declined to comment on the Daily Mail story.
