MICHAEL Gove and Matt Hancock are among the Tory politicians quizzed by the National Crime Agency (NCA) amid an ongoing probe into a firm linked to Michelle Mone.
The Conservative baroness is understood to have directly lobbied government ministers including Gove as she attempted to secure Covid supply contracts for the firm PPE Medpro.
Mone recommended PPE Medpro to the UK Government as a potential supplier on May 7, 2020. According to Companies House, the firm was not incorporated until five days later, on May 12.
In the preceding months, some £203 million in Covid contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro.
Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, denied they had any financial link with the company for years, despite reports on leaked documents which appeared to show that Barrowman was paid £65m from PPE Medpro profits, £29m of which was transferred to an offshore trust which Mone benefits from.
Earlier in November, in a statement issued to the Guardian, Mone and Barrowman admitted that they are linked to PPE Medpro for the first time.
An ongoing NCA investigation is looking into the possibility of offences such as bribery and fraud. In April 2022, agents raided Mone’s home in London as well as addresses on the Isle of Man as part of the probe.
The Times reported on Sunday that former health secretary Hancock and Levelling Up Secretary Gove were among the politicians who have been interviewed as witnesses.
James Bethell, a hereditary peer who formerly served as a health minister, and Theodore Agnew, another Conservative peer who formerly worked as a Cabinet Office minister, are also reported to have been questioned.
Gove (above) has allegedly described Mone as a “right pain in the arse” and asked Agnew to deal with her after she emailed him directly about the possibility of a contract for PPE Medpro.
The baroness emailed Gove on May 8 saying: “We have managed to source PPE masks through my team in Hong Kong. In order to commit to this 100,000 [masks] per day could you please get back to me ASAP as freight will also need to be secured.”
Gove, Hancock, Bethell, and Agnew have all criticised the way in which Mone sought to secure PPE contracts, according to the Times, with the peer accused of trying to “bully” people.
The UK Government is suing PPE Medpro for £122m, alleging that the sterile gowns provided under one contract were not fit for use in the NHS. The firm denies this.
