Bra mogul under fire Michelle Mone has put the luxury villa in the Algarve where it has been listed for sale for £6million – as she fights to clear her name amid allegations that she would have benefited from a company she recommended for a Covid contract.
Baroness Mone has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords after being embroiled in controversy over her links to PPE Medpro, which has won government contracts during the pandemic.
Now MailOnline has learned that the conservative pair and husband Doug Barrowman have put their six-bedroom holiday home on the market just weeks after they were pictured enjoying a sunny break.
The couple only acquired the mansion last July for £7million – via an offshore company.
They seek to unload him just weeks after their secret getaway to the sun comes to light.
The couple only acquired the Algarve mansion last July for £7million. Now Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman are looking to sell the six-bed property
Mone is currently battling to clear her name amid allegations that she benefited from a company she recommended for a Covid contract. She is pictured at the Pride of Britain Awards in London, September 28, 2015
A high-end estate agency in the exclusive resort of Quinta do Lago has been awarded the sale of the house for just over £6 million (€6.95 million).
Baroness Mone, 51, was pictured walking her three dogs near the property earlier this month after arriving on a private jet with her Glasgow-born business tycoon husband.
Barrowman, 58, was pictured playing golf in the sun and the couple were also spotted relaxing at local restaurants.
The couple enjoyed their time off as Michelle, who made her fortune at lingerie company Ultimo, continued to be investigated by the National Crime Agency as part of a fraud probe into a Covid supplies company she recommended to ministers.
Their £20million London home and Isle of Man estate, part of a real estate empire that also includes a £40million Caribbean home, were raided last April by security officers. the NCA as part of the investigation.
She is also being investigated by House of Lords standards commissioners over her alleged links to PPE Medpro. She is accused of breaching the Lords’ code of conduct by failing to declare an interest in the business as well as pushing for her to win the huge contracts to supply surgical gowns and face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. Covid.
PPE Medpro, set up by Anthony Page who has publicly documented links to companies run by Mone and her husband, is being sued for more than £130m by the Department of Health for claiming his dresses could not be used by the NHS.
The couple, who reportedly received tens of millions of pounds in profits from PPE Medpro through offshore trusts before buying their home in the Algarve, and PPE Medpro deny any wrongdoing.
A high-end estate agency in the exclusive resort of Quinta do Lago has been awarded the sale of the house for just over £6million
The villa had already been fully renovated before Mone and her husband bought it and it is believed they used it sparingly
Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman have put their six-bedroom vacation home on the market. They are both pictured at the Cheltenham Festival, March 15, 2019
Mone said last December she was taking “leave of absence” from the House of Lords “to clear her name of the allegations which have been wrongfully made”.
The luxury sun she and her husband are trying to sell is marketed as a “luxury villa in a prime location”.
The three-story 5,400 square foot mansion, which has five bathrooms as well as six bedrooms and a large swimming pool and outdoor barbecue area, sits on a 21,500 square foot lot.
The house has a beautiful suspended staircase between the ground floor on the basement and the top floor with two suites including a master suite opening onto a private terrace with ‘golf view’.
A description of the property enthuses: “This magnificent villa is surrounded by a private garden which blends naturally with the beauty of the surrounding landscape” and goes on to describe the house as “incomparable”.
He also highlights the large top-floor bathroom with “his and hers sinks” and a downstairs storage room that she says can be converted into a movie theater or studio.
The villa had already been completely renovated before Mone and her husband bought it and it is believed that they used it sparingly.
A well-placed insider said: “They haven’t said why they want to sell, but the decision to put it on the market is very recent.”
Baroness Mone is being investigated by House of Lords standards commissioners over her alleged links to PPE Medpro
The luxury Algarve pad that Mone and her husband are trying to sell is being marketed as a ‘luxury villa in a prime location’
“People are obviously speculating that it has to do with the fact that what they thought was a secret stash that they managed to keep away from prying eyes has now come to light.”
Another said: “I’d be surprised if they’ve been there more than half a dozen times in the eight months they’ve had it.”
Asked earlier this month by a journalist who owns the villa, registered with a company in the US tax haven of Delaware, Baroness Mone replied: ‘Nothing belongs to me. Everything belongs to my husband.
Quinta do Lago is touted as the most prestigious neighborhood in Portugal and one of the best places to live in Europe. It opened in the 1970s with a 27-hole golf course in an area of 550 hectares divided into high-end residences.
There are currently five golf courses surrounded by properties valued between £3.5m and £14m.
Mone, from Glasgow’s East End, was made a life peer in 2015 by then-Prime Minister David Cameron and appointed government czar for start-ups.
She has been in the spotlight since it emerged she recommended PPE Medpro to the government’s ‘VIP lane’ for Covid contracts before the company was even set up.
Mr Barrowman faces a separate trial later this year in Spain along with six other Britons over alleged tax evasion and embezzlement following the takeover of a cable factory in northern Spain.
The Scot insists he has committed no wrongdoing and will fight a prosecution request that he should be jailed for five-and-a-half years if convicted on both counts.
She voluntarily took leave from the Lords to fight claims which a spokesperson described as “unfairly brought against her”.
