Mone company fined for faulty PPE contracts

Thanks Casdon and LemonJam for info.

Of course her company was not the only one to provide stocks that failed to meet UK safety standards, unfortunately it was common at the beginning of the pandemic. The use of out of date stock from the nation’s major incident stores was preferable (after carrying out safety checks on it). So many lessons to learn.

Oreo

The Company did supply the PPE but it was deemed not to be surgically sterile, does that necessarily mean it was done with intent to defraud?

Who knows for sure? But unlikely to have wanted shipment to be rejected ? Medpro had no prior experience in supplying surgical gowns to UK government and evidently did not do the necessary due diligence work to be sure of UK legal standards and just "assumed" CE Chinese standard would be sufficient for UK standards. Instead of taking accountability at the time however and engaging with their "middle man supplier" to sort out the required validation process to satisfy UK legal standard they did nothing. When Medpro were then serve with notice shipment was not accepted then took issue with UK government and Mone and her husband hid behind lies. That was their biggest mistake and downfall. Mone had business savvy from her ultimo bra days- she should have known better and ensured contract specification requirements, with her husband Medpro owner, were spelt out clearly to her middle man company who then secured the gowns from China. Again she should have known better and a bit late to claim spilt milk now....

I think they supplied the initial orders Oreo, but as they failed the safety tests, subsequent batches included in the contract weren’t delivered? I read that ages ago, when there was a scandal about huge batches of stock being dumped on sites UK wide, although Mone’s company wasn’t specifically named as far as I know.

The Company did supply the PPE but it was deemed not to be surgically sterile, does that necessarily mean it was done with intent to defraud?

It is an absolute disgrace that a peerage cannot be stripped without an act of parliament. The House of Lords needs to be abolished given that it is mainly used by Prime Ministers to reward friends and cronies regardless of their contribution to public life.
Does any other democracy have non-elected parliamentary chambers? Why should Joe Public keep to the law when venal individuals like Mone can make a fortune by profiteering from thousands of deaths.

A good and fair judgement against Medpro, the firm that supplied the 25 million PPE gowns in question for £122m. The judge found they did not meet UK approved surgical sterile standards, specifically not assured by a certified approved notified body. Doug Barrowman, Mone's husband, as owner of Medpro, banked around £65m profit, and he had already taken that out of Medpro accounts and £29m of that had already passed into an off shore trust for the benefit of Mone and her children well before the case came to court. Medpro doesn't currently have that sum to repay, as others have outlined, so won't pay and will be interesting to see what the government does next therefore......

Mone can only be removed from HoLs if she resigns (she is not contrite!) or if the government passes an Act of Parliament to remove her). She is not responsible for the gowns failing to meet the required standards. But she is responsible for her greed and lack of shame in using her access, contacts and privileges for personal gain and pushing her contacts vigorously (the woman has no shame- then lied about this) to secure the contract in the first place via the VIP lane set up by the Conservative Party at the time. Her behaviour then and still falls far below what the county should expect from Peers in the HoLs. What is really needed is a process putting in place to hold HoL peers to account and to remove them if their behaviour falls short, as in the case of Mone.

The OP asked about fines- Gove and Boris- I would like to think that could happen- and for Mone and her husband to be fined also if a way can be found to do so. This would be fair and send a clear message the British public is fed up of sleaze in public office, let alone at a time the country was facing the Covid pandemic crisis. What sleaze. There should at the very least be an apology from Badenoch on behalf of the Conservative Party but I doubt that's in the offing either. The whole, sorry episode is outrageous, as others have commented.

PS It was a civil case so 'they' haven't been fined. I understand a criminal investigation is underway and some personal assets have been frozen.

Outrageous. We'll never get most of the money back. They disgust me and that includes the politicians who enabled them on the 'fast track'. The civil servants who tried to prevent it should be made Lords.

friendlygingercat

Stripping someone of a peerage can only be done by an Act of Parliament. Not a simple process.

Thank you for the info. It seems to me, rather than picking on an individual, we need an act of Parliament to give the powers to "sack" members of the House of Lords, terms of what constitutes a sackable offence.

Because after all we have no comeback at the ballot box, and that cannot be justified. They are meant to be people who have something real and good to contribute.

Casdon

Does anybody know if the company accounts are scrutinised and the individual pursued if it is clear that money has been moved to personal accounts whilst an investigation is ongoing? Surely if a company directors pays themself, say £10m and the company is liable for damages, tax or whatever that is pursued?

I doubt very much if the money stayed with the company for very long once payment had been received from the government. It was in and out in a flash. Remember the photo of Mone on her lovely new yacht that did the rounds on SM?

I also doubt if Medpro actually did any further trading once the PPE deal was done and paid for. That was the only thing the company was set up for. Set up a day or two before Mone got it into the VIP lane.

Since then it will have been dormant with a nominal sum left on its books.

It won’t have any assets. You don’t need any assets to set up a company. Just fill in the form and paybtge registration fee. Give it any address you like. No-one checks.

Stripping someone of a peerage can only be done by an Act of Parliament. Not a simple process.

How about criminal charges? Is that viable, anyone? (Fraud?)
Its disgusting of they just walk away.

Certainly stripped of any titles!

Does anybody know if the company accounts are scrutinised and the individual pursued if it is clear that money has been moved to personal accounts whilst an investigation is ongoing? Surely if a company directors pays themself, say £10m and the company is liable for damages, tax or whatever that is pursued?

Well this is a great judgement indeed.
I would not be surprised to learn that the money has been tidied away somewhere - didn't Ms Mone gift it to her children - but surely there are assets?
Shame on them.

Company Law needs an overhaul.

Yes they'll declare bankruptcy - they couldn't possibly be asked to sell their yacht or any of their massive houses. The money has been squirrelled away. Disgusting.

Toetoe

Maize D quite right . Ltd company. Directors not responsible for debt unless company is registered to their personal homes . Watch this space .

I think it was set up via a series of shell companies. This is exactly why companies are set up this way.

It took a bit of sleuthing to trace it back to Barrowman (Mone's husband) I understand.

Maize D quite right . Ltd company. Directors not responsible for debt unless company is registered to their personal homes . Watch this space .

Exactly. And that applies for anyone that breaks the law!

The money is highly unlikely to be repaid. The judgement is against Medpro, the company set up by Mone and her husband to cash in on the PPE bonanza. It is a Limited company and its accounts show it only has about £6,000. Mone and her husband are not responsible for paying its debts.

Good, and not before time! Moaning Michelle - karma is a bitch, huh?

Is she a baroness? If so, that should be removed.

love0c

I say, either pay up or prison!

Agreed, but I would go further and say that if the law has been broken there should be a prison sentence and the money should be repaid. I am not in favour of people being able to buy their way out of justice.

I say, either pay up or prison!