Firm linked to Michelle Mone 'bought private jet after she lobbied for multi-million PPE deal'
10 December 2022, 09:02
A company linked to Tory peer Baroness Mone bought a private jet after she lobbied for a firm to receive millions to supply PPE during the Covid pandemic.
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PPE Medpro was given more than £200m to supply facemasks and surgical gowns after Michelle Mone lobbied ministers.
Months later, a firm called Cabbane – based in the Isle of Mann – bought a Cessna CJ4 jet with a list price of £7.5m, The Times reports.
Cabbane's director Anthony Page is a wealth management expert who is the registered owner of PPE Medpro and works for Baroness Mone's husband Doug Barrowman's group of businesses.
No evidence suggests a link between the cash transfer and the jet purchase but the revelation will apply more scrutiny to Baroness Mone and Mr Barrowman.
Read more: Rishi Sunak blasts Michelle Mone over 'shocking' PPE claims
Baroness Mone has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords, where the standards committee is investigating a potential breach of the chamber's code of conduct.
Rishi Sunak previously said: "Let me say, like everyone else I was absolutely shocked to read about the allegations.
"It is absolutely right that she is no longer attending the House of Lords and therefore no longer has the Conservative whip."
Mr Barrowman, who runs the Knox group that Mr Page works for, was paid at least £65m from the PPE agreement in September 2020, according to leaked documents from HSBC.
He later paid almost £29m to a trust for the baroness and her children.
The jet, which bears the tail M-Knox, was bought in January 2021.
The National Crime Agency is investigating PPE Medpro, which is also in mediation with the Government over whether its PPE was up to scratch.
Baroness Mone, Mr Barrowman and Mr Page did not comment.
Mr Barrowman previously said the investigation meant he could not say much.
He added: "For the time being we are also instructed to say that there is much inaccuracy in the portrayal of the alleged 'facts' and a number of them are completely wrong."
He reportedly told HSBC Baroness Mone had "no involvement" with PPE Medpro's business and the transfer of the money it made to him happened in a "personal capacity".
They are no longer clients at the bank, it has been claimed.
