Jeremy Hunt has said any allegations of illegality should be reported to the police as Labour challenged him over the case of Baroness Michelle Mone.
The Chancellor refused to comment on the specific case or claims related to PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, which made millions of pounds in profits from a Government deal to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic.
Shadow Treasury minister Darren Jones raised Mr Barrowman’s claim that he was asked by a Government official if he would pay money for a law enforcement investigation to be called off.
The company is being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) while the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has since issued breach of contract proceedings over a 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.
Labour frontbencher Mr Jones said in the Commons: “The public have a right to know why so many billions of pounds of their taxes have been wasted by this Government.
“Baroness Mone has claimed today that Conservative ministers knew about her personal connection to the company PPE Medpro from the very beginning.
“So why didn’t the Government correct the record when a misleading picture was being painted in the media about Baroness Mone’s personal connection to PPE Medpro in the first place?”
Mr Hunt said: “I’m not going to comment on allegations by Baroness Mone or indeed on the individual case.
“But let me say this: we put together a taskforce of over 1,000 people that opened 46,000 investigations and have made so far over 80 arrests.
“So we will stop at nothing to tackle fraud and bring to justice anyone who was responsible for wrongdoing.
“But what we did in a moment of extreme crisis was to make sure we got PPE to the frontline as quickly as we could and had we not done so many more lives would have been lost.”
Mr Jones said: “We all know that Baroness Mone’s enrichment via PPE Medpro is subject to an investigation. But that doesn’t allow ministers to refuse to answer questions here in the House today.”
He asked: “Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman alleged that in November 2022 he was approached by a Government official asking if they would ‘pay more for the other matter to go away’.
“Is this specific and incredibly serious claim now being investigated? And if so, by whom?”
Mr Hunt said: “If he has got any evidence of people behaving improperly or illegally then he should tell the police and he will get the full support of this Government and indeed the whole House in bringing the matter to justice.
“But let me just say to him, any responsible opposition should understand that in a crisis there is a trade-off between speed and taking longer to prevent fraud.
“We took the right decision to save as many lives as possible.”
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Barrowman alleged that he was asked by a Government official if he would “would pay more money for the NCA investigation to be called off”.
Asked why he did not take the allegation to the police, he said: “I take the advice of my legal team, and the legal team at that point in time suggested that we park that one for now.”
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has previously indicated he would be “very surprised” if that was the case but said there is a “proper process” under way examining the details of the case.
Lady Mone also recently told a YouTube documentary that she and her husband would both be cleared, arguing they have “done nothing wrong”.
The film, part of a public fightback, was funded by PPE Medpro.