Michelle Mone has whined that she’s had an “extremely tough year of pain” after her bank accounts were frozen by the National Crime Agency.
The Conservative peer said she is being treated like Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord.
The NCA is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery surrounding PPE Medpro, a firm that supplied faulty personal protective equipment to the NHS during the pandemic after she recommended it to ministers. The company led by her husband Doug Barrowman was handed more than £200million in government contracts. The couple deny any wrongdoing.
Baroness Mone told the Sunday Times: "It has been an extremely tough year of pain with frozen accounts. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, I've been treated like Pablo Escobar. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" The NCA is reported to have ordered the banking freeze around a year ago to prevent the peer from moving any cash. She only found out when one of her cards was declined at a petrol station.
A friend of Baroness Mone told the newspaper: "It has been difficult for Michelle with very limited access to banking over the last year. While she is unlikely to receive much sympathy from the public, it has had a huge impact on daily life especially when she has not been charged with or found guilty of any crimes."
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Law-enforcement authorities are able to freeze bank accounts and other assets while an investigation is being carried out and before an individual is charged. If they are subsequently found guilty, money made through their crimes can be recovered through a confiscation order.
Escobar, who was nicknamed the “King of Cocaine”, is estimated to have amassed a fortune worth as much as $30billion before he was shot dead by police at the age of 44 in 1993. Much of the money that was hidden including in the walls of his properties was never recovered.
Baroness Mone stands to benefit from PPE Medpro's £60million in profits that have been placed into a trust by Mr Barrowman.
Earlier this month she admitted she regrets misleading the Mirror three years ago about her role in the scandal. When we first revealed links between her and the company, her spokesman told us: "Baroness Mone has no comment as she has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro." In an interview this month, she said: "I made an error in what I said to the press. I regret not saying to the press straight away, 'Yes, I am involved. And the Government knew I was involved'."
The Mirror revealed a fortnight ago that Baroness Mone and her husband had been interviewed under caution by detectives investigating them for fraud.
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