In relation to the criminal investigation into PPE Medpro—the business that received significant government contracts for personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic—an arrest has been made.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) announced in a statement that a 46-year-old man had been taken into custody at his residence in north London.

It is believed that the individual was detained on accusations of trying to rig the legal system and conspiring to conduct fraud.

PPE Medpro secured two contracts worth £203m to supply PPE in the early months of the pandemic after normal competitive tendering regulations were suspended.

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, who have both acknowledged they were involved in the company, have previously been interviewed under caution by NCA investigators. Barrowman is not the person arrested on Wednesday.

In media interviews they gave late in 2023, Mone and Barrowman adamantly denied any criminal wrongdoing in relation to PPE Medpro.

The NCA said: “A 46-year-old man from Barnet, London, was arrested this morning at his home address as part of an ongoing NCA investigation into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro. He is currently being interviewed by NCA officers.”