Michelle Mone's husband refuses to be grilled by prosecutors over £5m fraud
Businessman Doug Barrowman refused to be grilled by prosecutors at his fraud trial in Spain today.
There was no sign again of his wife, the Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone, at the second day of the £5m embezzlement case in Santander. Barrowman faces a jail sentence of up to five-and-a-half years, plus a hefty fine if convicted of misappropriation and tax fraud.
The couple are separately under investigation in the UK for fraud by the National Crime Agency for their role in more than £200m in PPE contracts. They insist they have done nothing wrong.
Baroness Mone declined to comment on Barrowman’s courtroom battle in Spain, when approached by the Mirror yesterday. The Spanish case revolves around Barrowman’s purchase, with the group of associates, of Spanish cable firm B3 Cable Solutions Spain.
The investors then transferred €6.3m (£5.4m) to a connected British company Barrowman had set up ,which prosecutors said was for “non-existent” services and “illicit benefit”. Some of the payment was used to cut the firm’s corporation tax bill in Spain. B3 went bust four years later with the loss of 213 jobs.
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Barrowman today admitted to playing a “senior” role in the £16m purchase of B3 in 2008. He only agreed to be questioned by his defence lawyer Borja Castiella, who promised to be “very quick” before rattling off just 16 questions in under eight minutes.
Doug Barrowman arriving in court for today's trial (EDU URDANGARAY/SOLARPIX)Some of the answers given in English, translated into Spanish through a translator sitting beside him at the Provincial Court of Cantabria in the northern port city of Santander, were just a few words long. The seven defendants are accused of a €508,000 ( €433,000) tax fraud and misappropriation totalling €6.3m (£5.4m) and are facing prison sentences of up to six years if found guilty of both offences.
They are being prosecuted despite being cleared of blame by a commercial court over the 2012 bankruptcy of B3. Barrowman confirmed he was the co-founder Aston Ventures, the trading name for Axis Ventura, which received the payment from B3.
Asked if he played a role in the purchase of B3, he answered: “Yes I did, would you like me to explain?”
Businessman Doug Barrowman refused to be grilled by prosecutors at his fraud trial in Spain today (EDU URDANGARAY/SOLARPIX)
State prosecutors want Barrowman jailed for three years if convicted of misappropriation and two and a half years for the alleged tax crime (EDU URDANGARAY/SOLARPIX)He went on to say he attended two meetings in Paris with the plant’s previous owners and was also involved in negotiations to secure bank cash for the purchase: “I have a lot of experience in dealing with banking and raising finance so it was very important for me to be present in the negotiations with [lender] Landbanski at senior level.”
He added: “I’m a chartered accountant by training but I have spent my entire career in corporate finance and venture capital buying companies.”
State prosecutors want Barrowman jailed for three years if convicted of misappropriation and two and a half years for the alleged tax crime. Paul Ruocco and Mark Price Williams, who together with Barrowman held nearly 60 per cent of B3 Cable’s shares, are facing identical prison demands.
Four other men, former B3 Cable directors named as David Powell, Timothy Eve, Stephen Ellis and Michael Walton, risk being jailed for up to six years each if convicted of both offences. The seven Brits are also facing fines of up to £1.7m if convicted.
The couple are separately under investigation in the UK for fraud by the National Crime Agency for their role in more than £200m in PPE contracts (PA)Barrowman and his co-defendants were given permission today to return to the UK after giving evidence but told they should be available online for the final day next Thursday when they will be offered the chance of a “last word.”
The three trial judges will then retire to consider their verdicts, which will be delivered in writing at a future date.
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A spokesman for Barrowman told the Mirror: "He has every confidence in the Spanish justice system."
It comes as around £75m of assets linked to Barrowman and Mone have been frozen or restrained by court order, it emerged last week. The court order covers a string of assets including a six-bedroom Belgravia townhouse, a country estate on the Isle of Man and nine properties in Glasgow, owned through offshore companies.
The Department for Health is suing PPE Medpro Limited for more than £130m for gowns it says were unsterile and can’t be used in the NHS. PPE Medpro is fighting the claims.
The pair accept that £65m in profits from PPE Medpro were transferred to trusts and accounts connected to Mr Barrowman and that Baroness Mone and her children stand to benefit.
Last month, PPE Medpro funded a 70-minute documentary released on YouTube, and the couple appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s prime-time BBC politics show, complaining they had been made “scapegoats” for the Government’s wider failings on PPE.
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