A yacht linked to Scottish underwear tycoon and Tory peer Michelle Mone has been put up for sale for £10.25 million. The sale of Lady M is listed months after a multi-million-pound refit to the 130ft vessel, which the 50-year-old socialite regularly features on her social media pages.
The boat, which was refurbished in May, features a deluxe cream-coloured interior and four cabins as well as room for six crew report the Express.
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It comes as Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman face a National Crime Agency investigation after the peer recommended PPE Medpro during the pandemic, a firm with connections to her husband - with the pair denying any wrongdoing.
The House of Lords commissioner for standards launched into Baroness Mone in January following a complaint by the Labour peer George Foulkes.
The group was awarded two contracts worth £200 million to supply surgical gowns and other items during the pandemic in 2020 which proved useless after the goods failed an inspection. The Department for Health is in dispute with PPE Medpro over millions of surgical gowns which it bought for £122m in 2020.
Once it became public last year that she had referred PPE Medpro to the Cabinet Office using the "VIP lane", Baroness Mone admitted she made the “very simple, solitary and brief step” but insisted “did not do anything further in respect of PPE Medpro”.
But in leaked Whatsapp messages Mone was allegedly asked what size of gowns were required under the Department of Health deal and replied: “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.”
Mone’s lawyers said she could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.
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Sources told the Guardian newspaper that Barrowman, an offshore entreprenuer on the Isle of Man, was "part of the financial consortium that backed" PPE Medpro. But his lawyers said the allegations were “largely incorrect”.
Four properties linked to the firm, including a £25 million Isle of Man bolt hole were raided by the NCA in April. No arrests were made during simultaneous raids in London and the Isle of Man but officers seized documents and electronic devices.
Set up by Mr Barrowman in 2017 – with his wife as a trustee – it donates to the Prince’s Trust, but has not lodged any donations in its accounts.
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