Walter Finch
THE infamous yacht of scandal-embroiled Baroness Michelle Mone has been tracked down near Barcelona by activists who renamed it ‘Pandemic Profiteer’.
The search has been on for the £10 million yacht Lady M since the corruption scandal broke last year surrounding a £200 million government contract to supply PPE given to a firm Mone lobbied on behalf of.
The 40-metre vessel was finally located down the coast from Barcelona in the Vilanova Grand Marina by UK campaigners Led By Donkeys.
The group produced a slick video showing a team pulling up next to the yacht in a small boat and plastering the phrase along the hull, explaining that ‘We’ve all paid for the boat so that’s why we’ve renamed it’.
Baroness Mone is under investigation by National Crime Agency fraud experts and the House of Lords.
She is accused of failing to declare an interest when lobbying for PPE Medpro to supply personal protection equipment to the Government and NHS for £203 million during the Covid pandemic.
Not only have subsequent investigations shown that £29 million of PPE funds from a £65 million profit were transferred by Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, to an offshore trust in the Isle of Man ultimately controlled by his wife.
But on top of this apparent corruption, the surgical gowns supplied were later deemed ‘unfit for purpose.’
The purchase of the yacht was part of a multi-million splurge that included a private jet and property for Mone’s children after the PPE contract was awarded.
Mone stepped down from her position in the House of Lords in December in order to ‘clear her name’ has since fled the UK and was spotted skiing in the Alps immediately afterwards.
Barrowman himself is facing trial in Spain later this year over a series of allegations of fraud that includes corporate tax evasion.
Spanish prosecutors allege that a payment was made fraudulently to UK firm Axis Ventura in 2008 to avoid paying around £436,000 in tax, and have demanded that Barrowman and his fellow accused pay back the money to the Spanish Treasury.
READ MORE:
- Husband of scandal-embroiled Tory peer Michelle Mone facing five years in jail for fraud in Spain
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