Company linked to Michelle Mone owes £39m in tax, new documents reveal

A company linked to Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone owes £39 million in tax, according to documents filed its administrators on Tuesday.

The sum owed by PPE Medpro is in addition to the £148 million the firm has already been ordered to repay the government.

PPE Medpro, a consortium spearheaded by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, was previously instructed to return the larger amount after the Department for Health and Social Care successfully sued it over 25 million “faulty” gowns supplied during the pandemic.

Despite the company entering administration last month, the government has affirmed it has “absolutely not” abandoned efforts to reclaim the total sum.

PPE Medpro has £672,774 available to unsecured creditors, well short of what it owes, filings show.

The firm was initially ordered to pay just shy of £123 million to the government, plus interest at a rate of 8 per cent per year.

A spokesman for the consortium said previously it was prepared to “enter into a dialogue” with the Government to reach a settlement.

“On Friday October 11, it was made clear that the consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into discussions with the Government, via the administrators, to reach a possible settlement,” he said.

“This was made very public, and the Government was made aware of it.

“Yet, very disappointingly, the Government has made no effort to respond or seek to enter into discussions.”