Man, 46, arrested in probe into personal protective equipment firm linked to former Tory peer Michelle Mone

A man has been arrested in an investigation into a personal protective equipment firm linked to the husband of former Tory collegiate Michelle Mone.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said a 46-year-old man is being interviewed as part of an investigation into how PPE Medpro obtained millions of pounds of PPE contracts. Earlier this year, assets linked to Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman were frozen as part of the NCA investigation.

The suspect, who has not been named, was arrested at his home. The NCA is investigating after PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Mr Barrowman, 59, was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m. Mone, 52, had recommended her to ministers.

In a statement, the NCA said: “A 46-year-old man from Barnet, London, was arrested this morning at his home address as part of an ongoing NCA investigation into suspected offenses involving the purchase of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro. He is currently being interviewed by NCA officers.”

The NCA launched an investigation into “suspected criminal offences” in May 2021. Both Mone – who was stripped of his Conservative whip – and Barrowman deny wrongdoing.

The company was established in May 2020 and has been awarded two large government contracts, including one worth £122 million for 25 million gowns. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) later said they were not fit for use – which PPE Medpro denies – and were never used.

He was awarded the contract and another worth £81 million in June 2020 after Mone referred him to a government “VIP lane”. The DHSC has since issued breach of contract proceedings in relation to the 2020 gown supply agreement.

Mone claimed she was being “treated like Pablo Escobar” after freezing her bank accounts. She denied links to the company, but in an interview with the BBC last December she said: “I’m sorry for that, but I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. No one.”

Mone said he responded to a “call to arms” and phoned cabinet member Michael Gove saying: “We want to help.” She claimed she followed Cabinet advice on declaring her involvement.

She said: “I was just acting like every other baroness and lord who also had names.” She claimed she denied involvement because she didn’t want a “hoo ha” in the media. “We did a lot of good things, but if we had to say something we did wrong, we should have said it to the media.”

In a 70-minute documentary funded by PPE Medpro, released in November, it emerged that Baroness Mone and her husband were interviewed by NCA officers. The film revealed new details of the NCA investigation – Mone is suspected of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery.

She said he was “scapegoated”. But she admitted to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last year that she and her family would benefit from the £60million profits made by the company. These were placed in a trust by her husband.