Many guessed that when the Covid scare came to a close and the smoke of disorientation cleared, the real
part of what many called a 'Scam-demic' would come to light. Well... it did and this is just the tip of the
iceberg. The irony is that now, the actual newspaper that rallied the storm of fear across Great Britain is
now beginning to see the truth about how something Orson Welles would be proud of, was executed under
their watch.
part of what many called a 'Scam-demic' would come to light. Well... it did and this is just the tip of the
iceberg. The irony is that now, the actual newspaper that rallied the storm of fear across Great Britain is
now beginning to see the truth about how something Orson Welles would be proud of, was executed under
their watch.
Quote:Revealed: the full inside story of the Michelle Mone PPE scandalArchived Guardian: (More in Link)
The Players.
*PE Medpro and partners made as much as £100m profits
*At least £70m from PPE Medpro contracts taken offshore
*Small electronics firm behind supply of gowns for NHS
*Jet, yacht and racehorse purchased after PPE deal
*Tory peer and husband now selling yacht and properties
*Mone takes leave of absence from Lords and may leave UK
'On the sunny spring evening of 7 May 2020, in the lethal first wave of the Covid pandemic, the Conservative peer
Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, had themselves filmed for Instagram. Standing between the
stone pillars at the front door of their mansion on the Isle of Man, they clapped for NHS staff, carers and other key
workers, as they did weekly from different parts of their Ballakew estate.
“As always, Doug and myself would just like to say a massive thank you tonight to everyone … that are keeping the
country going,” Lady Mone posted. “We appreciate each and every one of you.”
The Home.
Two years later, officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) were investigating PPE Medpro, a company that
received more than £200m of government Covid contracts weeks after Mone referred it to ministers. The Ballakew
estate, a nine-bedroom property nestled amid 154 acres of manicured grounds, with a spa, tennis court and helipad,
was one of several places raided on 27 April this year as part of the NCA’s inquiry into potential fraud by PPE Medpro.
Lawyers for PPE Medpro have declined to comment on the NCA investigation, which is continuing. However, this week
the company was at the centre of a political storm.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he was “absolutely shocked” by a bombshell report published by the Guardian
two weeks ago revealing that Mone and her husband secretly received tens of millions of pounds originating from PPE
Medpro’s profits, according to bank documents.
MPs voted to force Sunak’s government to release documents relating to PPE Medpro, which Mone had helped to secure
a place for on a “VIP” lane that the government used to prioritise politically connected suppliers at the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Guardian revealed that Mone had been “aggressively’” lobbying ministers on behalf of a second company,
LFI Diagnostics, which was another secret entity of her husband’s family office in the Isle of Man.
Now, the Guardian can reveal previously unreported details about the PPE deal at the heart of the Mone controversy and
the enormous profits it appears to have generated – mostly on the back of supplies that have been rejected by the
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in a dispute with the company.
Mone, Barrowman, PPE Medpro and three other intermediary companies in the supply chain appear to have made in
excess of £100m in profits from government contracts worth £203m, according to a Guardian analysis. It is a business
chain that stretches from the Isle of Man to Cyprus, Hong Kong and then China, and it resulted, it seems, in vast fortunes
that were moved offshore.
The string of revelations appears to have taken its toll on Mone, who announced this week that she was taking a leave
of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect – according to her spokesperson, “in order to clear her name
of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.
The only speck of good news for the peer this week appears to have come in the 1.17pm race at Newcastle on Thursday,
won by Monbeg Genius, a horse she bought for her husband as his “second wedding gift”. The six-year-old gelding, bought
for £80,000, was one of a number of acquisitions that Mone and her husband made in the months after they secretly
received at least £65m from profits originating from PPE Medpro. In a change of direction, several of those assets are
now for sale.
In March 2020, when the horror of the pandemic was setting in and the government began frantically trying to fill PPE
stockpiles that had been allowed to dwindle dangerously low, normal requirements that public contracts must be
competitively tendered were abandoned.
The DHSC would end up spending £12bn on PPE, much of it acquired via the “VIP” lane, which prioritised contracts for
companies recommended by MPs, peers and other politically connected people...'
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