A High Court judge has ordered a company linked to Tory peer known as ‘Baroness Bra’ to repay the Government almost £122million for breaching a contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic.
The Health and Social Care Department (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, declaring that the company had provided 25 million “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
The company, a consortium led by Lady Michelle Mone’s husband and businessman, Doug Barrowman, was awarded Government contracts by former Conservative administration to supply PPE during the Covid pandemic.
It came after she recommended it to ministers.
Government lawyers told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121million cost of the contract.
It also said it was seeking the costs of transporting and storing the items, amounting to £8,648,691.
Both Lady Mone and her husband have denied wrongdoing.
Barristers for the firm told the trial it had been “singled out for unfair treatment”.
Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman
|
BBC / GB NewsThe barristers accused the Government of “buyer’s remorse”, claiming that the gowns became defective due to the conditions they were kept in.
It also issued a counterclaim, saying DHSC owed a duty of care to the company to advise it on compliance with the contract.
Mrs Justice Cockerill said the contract was a “complex document”, however, she found that PPE Medpro had “breached the contract”.
MORE TO FOLLOW