Police raid Mone home over links to fraudulent PPE firm

THE home of Baroness Mone has been raided by police as part of a National Crime Agency probe into a PPE company linked to the Tory peer.

Properties associated with PPE Medpro, which secured more than £200million in government contracts at the start of the pandemic, were searched on Wednesday with officers said to have removed documents, computers and phones.

The Isle of Man home of Baroness Mone, 50, was included. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as the founder of the lingerie company Ultimo, and was made a Tory peer by David Cameron in 2015.

She shares the mansion with Douglas Barrowman, her billionaire businessman husband.

Lady Mone has previously denied having any involvement with PPE Medpro, a firm that was given £203million worth of contracts to supply surgical masks and gowns to the NHS in May and June of 2020.

The company was set up by one of her former business associates just weeks before it won the PPE deals.

However, she was said to be influential in ensuring the company won a place in the Government’s “VIP lane”, in which suppliers recommended by politicians, peers and officials received preferential treatment.

Leaked emails suggest that Lady Mone also lobbied the Government on behalf of the company behind the scenes. One official reported that she was “incandescent with rage” over the way the company was being treated, and was threatening to raise the matter with Michael Gove and Matt Hancock, who was then the health secretary.

The Isle of Man Constabulary said that search warrants had been executed on Wednesday at four addresses on the island “in support of an ongoing NCA investigation”. No arrests were made.

More than 12 officers unexpectedly turned up at the Knox House building in Douglas, the island’s capital, where PPE Medpro is based. The Guardian reported that both the front and rear entrances were guarded by officers.

A raid was also carried out at an address in Wardour Street, central London, in connection with the probe. Lawyers for the company have declined to comment.

It was reported earlier this year that gowns purchased by the Government for £122million had been bought from a Chinese manufacturer for just £46million. The 25 million gowns were never used by the NHS after they were rejected following the inspection.

PPE Medpro has insisted it met the terms of the contract and denies any wrongdoing.

The investigation is still ongoing. Lady Mone has yet to comment.