Company linked to Michelle Mone misses deadline to repay £122 million to government
A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone has failed to meet a deadline to repay the government nearly £122 million, the Health Secretary has said.
The refund was due after the company PPE Medpro was found to have breached a contract regarding surgical gowns during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) successfully sued PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, earlier this year.
They claimed it breached the agreement because the 25 million gowns were “defective” because they were not sterile.
In a ruling earlier this month, Mrs Justice Cockerill found the gowns were “not contractually sterile or properly verified as sterile”, meaning they could not be used on the NHS.
He ordered them to repay £121,999,219.20 plus interest by 4pm on Wednesday, but the day before the decision PPE Medpro went into administration.
After the deadline passed, Health Minister Wes Streeting said PPE Medpro had “failed to meet the payment deadline” and interest on the sum was “now accruing on a daily basis”.
He said: “At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government’s substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”
He continued: “We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything we can to get these funds back to the NHS where they belong.”
PPE Medpro was also ordered to pay interest; this is understood to be £23,673,029.20, meaning the total debt is around £145.6 million.
Interest will accrue at an annual rate of 8 percent from Thursday until the money is paid.
A spokesman for the consortium had previously said it was ready to “engage in dialogue” with the Government with a view to a “possible solution” but said it had not received a response by early Wednesday.
They said: “On Friday, October 11, it became clear that PPE Medpro’s consortium partners were prepared to enter into discussions with the Government, through administrators, to reach a possible solution.
“This has been very publicized and the Government has been made aware of it.
“However, very disappointingly, the Government has made no effort to respond or engage in discussions.”
It is understood the consortium remains keen to reach an agreement with the government.
At a hearing in June and July, lawyers for PPE Medpro claimed that the gowns had become defective because of the conditions in which they were kept after delivery, saying they were “selected out of unfair treatment” and accusing the Government of “buyer’s remorse”.
Lady Mone later said on
He later criticized Mrs Justice Cockerill’s decision, calling it a victory for “the establishment”; Mr Barrowman said it was “a travesty of justice”.
PPE Medpro still insists it supplied all 25 million gowns, and there is disagreement that the gowns were not sterile, and also stated that the court made its decision based on a technicality.
Lady Mone, who created lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014, was declared a Conservative peer by David Cameron in 2015.
He faced calls from many high-profile politicians to renounce his peerage following his decision, but said in a letter to Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch that he “did not want to return” to the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.
