Baroness Michelle Mone is reportedly allowed to keep an estimated £15,000-a-week rent from a Belgravia mansion subject to a freezing order. The order, which froze £75 million of assets two years ago during a National Crime Agency investigation into a PPE deal, was amended to permit rental income from the £25 million property.
The Grade-II listed mansion is owned by an Isle of Man-based firm linked to Mone's husband, Doug Barrowman. The company purchased the property for £9.25 million in December 2020 and obtained planning permission for a refurbishment including a basement cinema and spa.
The amendment, approved by Judge Tony Baumgartner in a secret hearing at Southwark Crown Court, states: 'Any rental income from this property is not restrained and there is no restriction on the use to which this income may be put.'
PPE Medpro, a consortium run by Barrowman, received a £122 million government contract to supply PPE during the pandemic. In October, a High Court judge ordered the company to repay the money after finding it breached the contract. The firm, which owes the Department of Health £148 million and HMRC £39 million, was placed into liquidation last month.
Baroness Mone and Mr Barrowman have denied wrongdoing and have not faced charges. Mone described the High Court judgment as 'shocking but all too predictable,' calling it 'an Establishment win for the Government in a case that was too big for them to lose.'
