UK Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, said the government will pursue PPE Medpro, a company linked to former Tory peer and bra saleswoman Michelle Mone, after it failed to meet a deadline for repaying millions of pounds.
High court judge Mrs Justice Cockerill ordered the firm to return £122 million to the Department of Health and Social Care by 4pm on 15 October after 25 million sterile surgical gowns the company provided proved to be defective.
The DHSC said that interest, which has been running on the overdue bill from when the PPE gowns were rejected as unusable in late 2020, was now £23.7m.
“At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash,” said Streeting. “PPE Medpro has failed to meet the deadline to pay – they still owe us over £145m, with interest now accruing daily.
“We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything we’ve got to get these funds back where they belong – in our NHS.”
Interest would now accumulate at an annual rate of 8%, the DHSC said.
Earlier a spokesman for Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, who is involved in the consortium behind the company, said the government had not responded to an offer from PPE Medpro to discuss a settlement.
“Very disappointingly, the government has made no effort to respond or seek to enter into discussions,” he said.
During the trial PPE Medpro offered to pay £23m to settle the case but this was rejected by the DHSC.
While Mr Barrowman has described himself as the “ultimate beneficial owner” of PPE Medpro, and says £29m of profit from the deal was paid into a trust benefitting his family including Baroness Mone and her children, he was never a director and the couple are not personally liable for the money.
There are crucial questions over how the government can get its money back as the company has few assets and was put into administration on 30 September, the day before the judgment was delivered.
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