Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband’s assets totally around £75m have been frozen, as they face a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged PPE fraud.
According to the Financial Times, a court order has frozen or restrained Mone and Douglas Barrowman assets including a six-bedroom Belgravia townhouse, a country estate on the Isle of Man, and 15 accounts at Coutts, C Hoare and Co and Goldman Sachs International.
The order was consented to by Mone and Barrowman and followed by an application by the Crown Prosecution Service under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Back in May 2021, the NCA opened an investigation into “suspected criminal offences” committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro, owned by a consortium led by Barrowman.
The NCA is investigating Mone and Barrowman in relation to “allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation, and bribery, which they both categorically deny”.
During the pandemic, PPE Medpro received over £200m from the government to provide PPE to NHS workers, via a “VIP lane” introduced by the government to help it determine its preferred suppliers from the many offers it received.
Until November 2022 the pair had denied, via their lawyers, any financial connection PPE Medpro, when a leak of HSBC documents suggested Barrowman received £65m of the company’s profits.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last month, Baroness Mone, who had previously denied being connected to PPE Medpro, the company in question, said: “I regret and am sorry for not saying straight out: ‘Yes, I am involved’.”
While speaking to The Sunday Times last month, Mone told the paper she was being “treated like Pablo Escobar” after having her bank accounts frozen.
PPE Medpro is currently defending legal action from the government for £122m plus costs for a “breach of contract and unjust enrichment”.
Spokesperson for Mone and Barrowman told the FT, “The court order was “a result of a consensual process during which negotiations took place with the CPS”.
“It allows the wider businesses and assets of the Barrowman family to operate normally and free from any restrictions or uncertainties.”
“Doug and Michelle did not contest the application and were happy to offer up these assets, which means they can begin the task of proving their innocence more quickly,” they added.