RELEASE: Anti-Corruption Experts welcome Michelle Mone verdict — but warn still billions left to reclaim.
**For immediate release**
Government must continue the fight to reclaim taxpayer money wasted during the pandemic, UK Anti-Corruption experts say.
Wednesday 1 October 2025 — The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition has welcomed today’s High Court ruling ordering PPE firm MedPro to repay £122m to the government – the value of its contract during the pandemic. The firm was contracted to supply medical gowns for NHS staff, all of which were found to be non-compliant. This still leaves billions of unreturned public money from fraudulent contracts given out during the pandemic.
Today’s ruling follows renewed attention on the contracts scandals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to ITV’s bombshell documentary revealing previously secret documents, emails and records. Anti-corruption experts who contributed to the documentary’s findings are now calling for the government to continue the fight to reclaim the taxpayer money wasted during the pandemic and push for higher standards in public life to ensure that this never happens again.
Phil Brickell MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, said:
“While most of the country were shut up at home, many not even able to say their goodbyes to loved ones, a privileged few saw an opportunity to make millions.
“We need to claw back as much money owed to the taxpayer as possible. Wrongdoers need to be held to account. But we also need to ensure that what went on during the pandemic can never happen again.”
Gavin Hayman, Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership and co-chair of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, said:
“The Michelle Mone case is just the tip of the iceberg. The COVID-19 contracts scandal is the biggest Government misspending scandal in the UK of all time, and the government should be doing everything in its power to deliver every wasted penny back to our public services. Let's hope that this is the start, and not the end, of holding those many, many companies to account, who let us down when we needed them most.”
Dr. Sue Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption and co-chair of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, said:
“It is now critical that the government uses all the tools at its disposal to recover all the money - including considering compensation orders against the directors of PPE Medpro and other companies found to have ripped off the taxpayer during Covid. And there must be individual accountability if there was wrongdoing - it is essential that the criminal investigation proceeds at pace.”
Notes to Editors:
The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition have been core participants in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, specifically giving evidence and examining witnesses on Procurement during the pandemic.
Previous research by Transparency International UK identified 135 high-risk contracts with a value of £15.3 billion with three or more corruption red flags.
Spotlight on Corruption previously established that 25 of the 50 companies in the government’s ‘VIP lane’ supplied PPE worth £1 billion that was not fit for purpose. This amounts to 59% of all money awarded to VIP lane companies for PPE.
The Covid Inquiry is expected to release its report on procurement, including full recommendations to the UK Government, in Spring 2026.
Tom Heyhoe was appointed by the Chancellor as the UK’s Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner. He is expected to report back to the Chancellor on his findings on public procurement during the pandemic in December 2025.
In her recent Labour conference speech, the Chancellor claimed that £400 million has been recovered so far related to Covid-19 fraud and PPE mismanagement.