Prince Andrew's fixer fronting PPE firm linked to Baroness Mone (2025)

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Scandal-hit Prince Andrew faces renewed scrutiny as the Mail can reveal his business fixer is also fronting the controversial PPE firm linked to Baroness Mone which is under criminal investigation.

Arthur Lancaster is an accountant in charge of the Duke of York’s latest money-making venture, set up with the help of an alleged Chinese spy.

He is also the sole director of PPE Medpro, the company led by Baroness Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, which is being probed by Britain’s version of the FBI over its ‘VIP lane’ contracts during the pandemic.

The Conservative peer and Ultimo bra tycoon has admitted lying about her links to the firm and allegedly shared a multimillion-pound windfall from its £200million contract to supply PPE to the NHS during Covid.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating after it was claimed that millions of hospital gowns it supplied during the pandemic were not fit for purpose.

Mone and Barrowman, who have both been interviewed by the NCA, deny wrongdoing.

The Mail can reveal that PPE Medro’s sole director and ‘significant controller’ is Mr Lancaster, who joined the firm in 2023 after the NCA launched its criminal investigation.

He is understood to have agreed to front the business following the commencement of the NCA probe at the request of Mr Barrowman.

Mr Lancaster, 61, is fronting a rebranded version of Andrew’s Dragons Den-style Pitch@Palace investment firm, after the duke was forced to step aside following his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The duke has since launched a new variation of the investment scheme, called Innovate Global Limited, which was incorporated in 2022. Mr Lancaster is the firm’s sole director.

Court documents show that alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo was instrumental in launching the business in China.

Innovate Global also held an event in Tokyo in November where Andrew’s daughter Princess Eugenie was filmed handing out awards to successful entrepreneurs.

Earlier this month, King Charles was dragged into the spy scandal engulfing his brother after a witness statement made by Andrew’s senior aide, Dominic Hampshire, was made public.

It detailed how the King secretly met with the duke and Mr Hampshire to discuss Andrew’s plans to work with an investment scheme set up with the help of alleged spy Yang.

Mr Lancaster is a long-time associate of the duke, Mr Hampshire – and Mr Barrowman.

He was behind AML Tax (UK) Ltd – part of Mr Barrowman’s Isle of Man-based Knox Group – which was fined £150,000 by HMRC in 2022 for ‘aggressively’ promoting tax avoidance schemes in the UK.

In their 2022 judgement against AML, Judge Thomas Scott and Judge Jonathan Cannan said Mr Lancaster had been ‘evasive… providing as little evidence as possible’ and he ‘did not wish to volunteer anything more than he considered necessary.’

His evidence was ‘confused, lacking in candour, in some respects incorrect and littered with inconsistencies,’ the judges said.

Mr Lancaster resigned from AML in May last year.

When he was appointed at PPE Medpro, a spokesman said he had been brought in to ‘oversee the resolution of a contractual dispute and the administration of the company until the dispute is resolved.’

The NCA launched an investigation into PPE Medpro in 2021 probing the company’s procurement of £203million of government contracts to supply PPE during the Covid pandemic.

The contracts were awarded by the government’s ‘VIP lane’ which gave priority to those with political connections.

Mr Lancaster was approached for comment.

The Duke of York did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Mr Barrowman said Mr Lancaster ‘acted for the duke in a personal capacity at all times and has been an associate of the duke for many years.’

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