Michelle Mone’s home raided as PPE firm linked to Tory peer investigated

theguardian.com:

The National Crime Agency has launched a potential fraud investigation into a PPE company linked to Michelle Mone and searched the Tory peer’s shared home.

The NCA investigation is into PPE Medpro, a company that secured more than £200m in government contracts near the start of the pandemic without public tender.

On Wednesday, the agency searched several properties associated with the company in the Isle of Man and London. They included the Isle of Man office building where PPE Medpro is registered and the mansion where Lady Mone lives with her husband, the business magnate Douglas Barrowman.

The Isle of Man constabulary confirmed that search warrants were executed at four addresses on the island on Wednesday “in support of an ongoing NCA investigation”. There were no arrests.

More than a dozen law enforcement officers are understood to have turned up unexpectedly at the Knox House building in the island’s capital, Douglas, where the Isle of Man PPE Medpro company is registered. One witness described the building being guarded by officers both at its front and rear.

The officers are understood to have seized documents, computers, phones and other electronic devices from the building.

Also searched was a Wardour Street address in central London, the office of the UK-registered PPE Medpro company that was awarded two government contracts worth £203m. A member of staff at that building told the Guardian: “It’s a ‘no comment’ all round.” Lawyers for PPE Medpro declined to comment.

There is no evidence that the NCA’s investigation is connected to matters that have previously been the subject of public controversy. However, the investigation is likely to resurface questions about the wider £12bn in PPE contracts the government