PPE Medpro in Administration Move
PPE Medpro Limited, linked to Michelle Mone and Douglas Barrowman has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. This follows the judgement by the High Court today that they must repay the government £122m for supplying non-compliant surgical gowns to the NHS.It should be noted that the intention to appoint administrators is a way of protecting the company from aggressive creditor actions, such as winding up petitions. It gives the company protection for 10 days whilst it tries to rescue the business. This might be additional finance or a sale.However, following the loss of the High Court battle many will ask can the government get its money back. There may be legal appeals, so it may not be the end of the matter. However, if the company does go into administration, which needs to be likely in order to be allowed to file the "intention" then it will be difficult to get money back. The company only has assets of £666k having spent £4.2m on legal fees.The company will be run by the admistrators and most likely put into liquidation very quickly as it cannot trade. The liquidators will then have to go through all the books and records and investigate the conduct of the directors etc. If, and it is a very BIG if, the liquidators find wrongdoing on behalf of the directors then they may be able to claim against the personal wealth of the directors or ex-directors (not Mone or Barrowman as they were never directors). The liquidators would have to PROVE that they were fraudulent and wilfully negligent in the handling of the business/contract. There is or has been NO suggestion that this is the case. The argument centred around the contract and what was agreed that should be supplied.People will be angry that the PPE was not fit (according to the NHS) but that does not mean that it was the directors fault and they should be held liable. This is simply a breach of contract case.It is worth remembering the extraordinary circumstances in which PPE procurement took place. Many companies and individuals came forward in good faith, wanting to help meet urgent demand in the Pandemic. With the pace and pressure of the situation, it was almost inevitable that misunderstandings etc would happen.Here is what Michelle Mone had to say about the case"Today’s judgment against PPE Medpro is shocking but all too predictable. It is nothing less than an Establishment win for the Government in a case that was too big for them to lose. According to the judgment, PPE Medpro won its original pleaded case, having spent 4.5 years and £4.4 million defending it. However, on the opening day of trial, the Government pivoted to an entirely new argument, one that had never been pleaded beforehand. They claimed there was a lack of original “source documentation” around sterilisation, even though seven fully accredited sterilisation plants supplied gowns to other Governments and suppliers worldwide throughout the pandemic, without an issue. This quantum leap of faith on the part of the judge gave the government an overall win. To use a simple analogy, if a car looks, feels, and drives like, say, a Range Rover, then unless you can show how the car is assembled by the manufacturer, it’s not a Range Rover! That’s essentially what the judgment states, which contradicts all the evidence presented in court during the month-long trial in June of this year. I've attached the complete press release from my husband’s spokesperson for your review. It lays bare the injustice of this judgment and the Establishment cover-up behind it."
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