12 June 2024 , 17:51
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Suspect understood to have been arrested on suspicion of offences including conspiracy to commit fraud
An arrest has been made in connection with the criminal investigation into PPE Medpro, the company that was awarded large government personal protective equipment contracts during the Covid pandemic.
In a statement, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said a 46-year-old man had been arrested at his north London home.
The man is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
PPE Medpro secured two contracts worth £203m to supply PPE in the early months of the pandemic after normal competitive tendering regulations were suspended.
The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, who have both acknowledged they were involved in the company, have previously been interviewed under caution by NCA investigators. Barrowman is not the person arrested on Wednesday.
In media interviews they gave late in 2023, Mone and Barrowman adamantly denied any criminal wrongdoing in relation to PPE Medpro.
The NCA said: “A 46-year-old man from Barnet, London, was arrested this morning at his home address as part of an ongoing NCA investigation into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro. He is currently being interviewed by NCA officers.”