The health department has launched civil proceedings against PPE Medpro – the firm said to have been handed huge Covid contracts after lobbying by Tory peer Baroness Mone, who later allegedly received a £29million payment.
The bra tycoon’s husband Douglas Barrowman was a director of the firm, which paid him £65million. He is reported to have then arranged for money to be sent to a secret offshore trust for the peer and her children.
PPE Medpro yesterday revealed the Department of Health and Social Care is suing it over a £122million deal to provide gowns.
The firm said it would be ‘rigorously defended’ – and accused DHSC of a ‘cynical attempt to recover money from suppliers’ who acted in good faith. A statement said: ‘PPE Medpro will demonstrate to the courts that we supplied gowns to the correct specification, on time and at a highly competitive price. The case will also show the utter incompetence of DHSC.’
The company claims the department vastly over-ordered – then brought in consultants to ‘pick over’ contracts and find technicalities. It said it had made ‘numerous attempts at mediation’ but DHSC ‘didn’t want to settle’.
Baroness Mone, 51 – who denies any wrongdoing and says she was not connected to the firm – has taken leave of absence from parliament while a Lords committee and the National Crime Agency investigate the case.
A DHSC spokesman said last night: ‘We do not comment on matters that are the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.’
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