A 46-year-old man has been arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into PPE Medpro.
The NCA is looking into suspected criminal offences in the procurement of PPE contracts by the consortium.
The suspect, from Barnet, north London, was held at his home on Wednesday morning, the agency said.
He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and is being interviewed by NCA officers.
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Baroness Michelle Mone‘s husband Doug Barrowman, was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m to supply personal protective equipment after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.
Lingerie entrepreneur Lady Mone, 52, and Mr Barrowman, 59, have faced controversy over the so-called “VIP lane” contracts granted to some firms to supply items designed to protect against coronavirus infection during the COVID pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has since issued breach of contract proceedings over the 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.
PPE Medpro is defending the legal action.
And the pair deny any wrongdoing.
Read more:
Who is Michelle Mone and what is the PPE controversy?
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In January this year, Mr Barrowman said his family have been “treated as a punchbag” for the “lamentable failures” by ministers when procuring PPE during the pandemic.
In a statement published by Lady Mone on X, he said it “suits the agenda” of the UK government to “scapegoat” him and his wife.
Lady Mone is a businesswoman and the founder of lingerie company Ultimo.
Born in Glasgow, she left school with no qualifications at 15 and went on to launch ventures in diet pills, fake tan and cryptocurrency. She became a Conservative life peer in 2015.
She took a leave of absence from the House of Lords in 2022 in order to “clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.
Source Agencies
