31 December 2023 , 15:32
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The National Crime Agency is allegedly reviewing a £3million payment made into Baroness Michelle Mone's Coutts bank account.
Dubbed 'Britain's FBI' the agency has been investigating Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman's role in the PPE Medpro scandal since May 2021.
The Scottish lingerie tycoon last month admitted lying to journalists when she denied having any involvement in PPE Medpro. During the pandemic she referred the company to the Government before it won £200million in Covid contracts.
According to the Sunday Times, a £3million payment into Baroness Mone's account with Coutts is allegedly being scrutinised by the NCA probe. It was reported to be of interest to the NCA because it arrived after £65million in profits from PPE Medpro were transferred to trusts and accounts connected to her husband.
The former Conservative peer has publicly stated she may only indirectly benefit from the profits of lucrative government contracts. And speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg in December, Mone said: “It’s my husband’s money. It’s his money. It’s not my money and it’s not my children’s.
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“I am being straightforward about it now, Laura. I’m saying to you that I didn’t receive that cash. That cash is not my cash, that cash is my husband’s cash, we are married. If one day, God forbid, my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children, so yes, of course.”
The NCA declined to comment on the claims while the investigation is ongoing. A spokesman said: "The NCA can confirm its International Corruption Unit opened an investigation in May 2021 into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro." Mone has been contacted for comment.
Earlier in December she told The Sunday Times she had been treated like the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. She said: "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?"
Baroness Mone has apologised for lying to reporters but has insisted she did nothing wrong.