OUT OF MONEY

PPE company has £666k left in assets following court hearings Government will recoup little or none of the £134m sought

- BY NICK SOMMERLAD

THE protective gear company linked to Michelle Mone, which is being sued by the Government for £134million, has just £666,000 left in assets, we can reveal.

The latest accounts for PPE Medpro Limited show it has spent £4.3million defending itself against the High Court claim. It increases the prospect that - even if the Government were to win its claim over allegedly unusable PPE - little or no money will be recouped for the taxpayer.

The company, first exposed by our sister paper the Mirror, was set up by a close associate of Baroness Mone and her businessman husband, Doug Barrowman, in the early weeks of the pandemic. It rapidly won more than £200million in Covid contracts for gowns and face masks through the Government's VIP procurement lane.

Mone initially denied involvement in the deal, but it later emerged she and her husband had benefited from £65million in profits from the firm.

The couple are linked to more than £100million in assets, including properties around the world, a private jet and superyacht. Some have been frozen by the courts, others have been recently sold or advertised for sale.

The Department of Health launched proceedings in 2022 over claims that 25million gowns were unsuitable for use in the NHS after tests showed many were not sterile.

Over four weeks of court hearings in July, PPE Medpro denied the claims, insisting the contamination must have happened in transit, and said the department had "buyer's remorse" after buying 10 years of stock. The judgement in the case is pending.