高等法院勒令涉事公司于周三下午4点前退还英国卫生与社会保障部为不合格手术服支付的款项
与英国保守党前贵族议员米歇尔·莫内有关联的一家公司，因在新冠疫情期间提供无法使用的个人防护装备，被高等法院判决需向政府支付1.22亿英镑，但至今分文未付。
科克里尔法官夫人裁定，PPE Medpro公司必须在10月15日下午4点前退还英国卫生与社会保障部根据2020年6月授予的合同为其提供的2500万件无菌手术服所支付的款项。
英国卫生与社会保障大臣韦斯·斯特里廷在下午5点前作出回应，称PPE Medpro公司未能按时履约，政府将追讨该公司欠款。英国卫生与社会保障部表示，自2020年底这批防护服被判定无法使用以来，1.22亿英镑欠款产生的利息已累计达2370万英镑，使得总欠款金额接近1.46亿英镑。
斯特里廷表示："在国家危机时期，PPE Medpro公司向上一届政府出售了不合格的防护装备，并侵吞了纳税人的血汗钱。PPE Medpro公司未能按期付款——他们仍欠我们超过1.45亿英镑，且利息每天都在累积。"
我们将竭尽全力追查PPE Medpro公司，确保这笔资金物归原主——重新投入我们的国民医疗服务体系（NHS）。
英国卫生与社会保障部（DHSC）表示，利息现在将以每年8%的利率累积。
政府如何收回资金仍存疑问。这家由莫恩的丈夫、马恩岛商人道格·巴罗曼所有的公司已所剩无几，并于9月30日——即判决下达前一天——进入破产管理程序。
巴罗曼和莫恩的发言人表示，PPE Medpro的联合合作伙伴（指参与防护服供应的三家中间商公司）"愿意与公司管理层进行对话，商讨与政府达成和解的可能性"。
工党似乎并未就和解讨论的建议作出回应，而是在等待对方在截止日期前完成全额付款。
英国卫生与社会保障部（DHSC）在莫恩于2020年5月首次联系时任内阁办公厅大臣迈克尔·戈夫后，向PPE Medpro公司授予了价值1.22亿英镑的防护服合同，以及另一份价值8085万英镑的口罩合同，总金额达2.03亿英镑。这些合同通过鲍里斯·约翰逊领导的保守党政府在疫情期间运作的“VIP通道”进行审批，该渠道优先考虑具有政治关联的人士。莫恩于2015年被戴维·卡梅伦任命为上议院议员。
她和巴罗曼（Barrowman）多年来一直通过律师否认与PPE Medpro公司有关联。2022年11月，《卫报》披露，巴罗曼从PPE Medpro的利润中获得了至少6500万英镑的收益，随后将2900万英镑转入一个旨在为莫恩（Mone）及其三名成年子女提供利益的信托基金。
2023年12月，莫恩（Mone）在接受英国广播公司采访时承认这对夫妇曾撒谎，并证实了他们与该公司的关联。巴罗曼（Barrowman）承认自己获得了超过6000万英镑的收入，并将资金转入信托；这对夫妇表示其子女也是受益人。
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Firm was ordered by high court to return sum paid by DHSC for unusable surgical gowns by 4pm on Wednesday
A company linked to the former Conservative peer Michelle Mone has failed to pay the government any of the 05122m ordered by a high court judgment for supplying unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic.
Mrs Justice Cockerill ruled that PPE Medpro must, by a deadline of 4pm on 15 October, return the money it was paid by the Department of Health and Social Care for 25m sterile surgical gowns under a contract awarded in June 2020.
Reacting just before 5pm, the health secretary, Wes Streeting , said PPE Medpro had failed to meet the deadline and the government would pursue the company for payment. The DHSC said that interest, which has been running on the 05122m from when the PPE gowns were rejected as unusable in late 2020, was now 0523.7m C making the total owed almost 05146m.
At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers hard-earned cash, said Streeting. PPE Medpro has failed to meet the deadline to pay C they still owe us over 05145m, with interest now accruing daily.
We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything weve got to get these funds back where they belong C in our NHS.
Interest would now accumulate at an annual rate of 8%, the DHSC said.
Questions remain over how the government can get its money back , as the company, owned by Mones husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, was left with little money, and was put into administration on 30 September, the day before the judgment was handed down.
A spokesperson for Barrowman and Mone has said that the consortium partners of PPE Medpro, a reference to three intermediary companies involved in the supply of gowns, were prepared to enter into a dialogue with the administrators of the company to discuss a possible settlement with the government.
Labour appeared not to have engaged with this suggestion of a discussion about a settlement, and was waiting for full payment to be made by the deadline.
The DHSC awarded the 05122m gowns contract to PPE Medpro, and another worth 0580.85m for face masks C a total of 05203m C after Mone first approached the then Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in May 2020. The contracts were processed via the VIP lane, operated by Boris Johnsons Conservative government during the pandemic, which gave high priority to people with political connections. Mone was appointed to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015.
She and Barrowman denied through their lawyers for years that they were involved in PPE Medpro. In November 2022, the Guardian revealed that Barrowman had been paid at least 0565m from PPE Medpros profits, then transferred 0529m to a trust set up to benefit Mone and her three adult children.
In December 2023 Mone admitted in a BBC interview that the couple had lied, and they confirmed their involvement in the company. Barrowman acknowledged that he had been paid more than 0560m and transferred money into the trust; the couple said that his children were beneficiaries as well.
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