Company linked to former Tory colleague Michelle MonetA company that owes the government nearly £150 million for supplying unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic has been placed into liquidation.
Department Health and Social Care (DHSC) applied to wind up Medpro's PPE at a high court hearing on Thursday, arguing the company is “hopelessly insolvent” and should not continue to be run.
Monet's husband, Isle of Man businessman Doug Barrowman, owned Medpro PPE, which has since been awarded two PPE contracts worth £203 million. Monet approached Michael Govethen Cabinet Minister, in May 2020.
Contracts were processed through a “VIP lane” run by Boris Johnson's Conservative government during the pandemic, which gave high priority to people with political connections. Monet was appointed to House of Lords as fellow Conservative David Cameron in 2015.
In October DHSC wins high court ruling that the £25 million PPE Medpro gowns supplied under the second contract, for which £122 million was paid, were not certified as sterile as required.
On 30 September, the day before the decision was made public, the company was placed under the management of a private trust company registered in the Isle of Man and linked to Barrowman.
The DHSC said that, including interest and costs, it now owes £148 million. HMRC has sued for £39 million for unpaid tax, of which £31 million was corporation tax, according to documents filed in the high court.
DHSC opposed proposals put forward by administrators last month to run the company and recover the money and instead applied to wind up PPE Medpro.
In their proposals, administrators did not specify where Medpro's PPE money from government contracts went, but said: “A review of the company's bank records reflects a small number of entities that received the vast majority of funds from the company's bank accounts.”
At a hearing on Thursday in the Insolvency and Company Tribunal, Simon Passfield CC, a spokesman for the administrators, said there were “potential” legal claims that could be brought on behalf of the company against unnamed “third parties” that “could result in a substantial recovery” of money, but did not provide any further details.
David Mohyuddin, a spokesman for DHSC, said in a written statement that Medpro's PPE should be wound up, saying the company was “clearly and very substantially insolvent.”
Monet and Barrowman for years they refused through their lawyersthat they participated in the Medpro PPE, despite Guardian questions and reports to the contrary.
In November 2022, the Guardian reported that Barrowman was paid at least £65 million from PPE Medpro profits and then transferred £29 million into an offshore trust set up to benefit Mona and her three adult children.
After political protest, Monet took leave from the Lords. Following criticism from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch following the October court ruling, Monet said she no desire to return to the lords as a fellow Conservative.
In December 2023 Monet admitted in an interview with the BBC that the couple lied media, and they confirmed their involvement in the company. Barrowman admitted that he was paid around £60 million and transferred the money to a trust; the couple said his children were also beneficiaries.
After company missed the October 15 deadline To pay off the High Court judgment, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “We will pursue the Medpro PPE in every way we can to get these funds back where they belong – in our NHS.”
With the company now in liquidation, the government still faces significant legal hurdles. in refund.
Streeting said: “We said we will not rest until we recover taxpayers' hard-earned money paid to fraudulent operators such as PPE Medpro, and today we have taken further action to do just that.
“During the pandemic, when the entire country was making enormous sacrifices, separated from family and loved ones, Medpro PPE supplied defective PPE and profited unfairly.
“We will continue to pursue PPE Medpro, doing everything we can to get these funds back where they belong – in our NHS.”
