Ex-Co-op Bank chairman Flowers charged over drug allegations

PAUL Flowers, the former chairman of The Co-operative Bank, is to be prosecuted for possession of drugs.

A brief statement from West Yorkshire Police said: “Paul Flowers, 63, of Hollingwood Drive, Bradford, has been charged with two offences of possession of a Class A drug and one offence of possession of a Class C drug.

“He has been bailed to appear before Leeds Magistrates on 7 May.”

The former Methodist minister left his role at the troubled lender last summer. Allegations about his private life were subsequently published in a Sunday newspaper which sparked the police investigation and he was arrested late last year.

His shambolic performance before MPs sitting on the Treasury Select Committee during their investigation into the collapse of the Co-op’s deal to buy 600 branches from Lloyds Bank, where he didn’t know the size of the bank’s assets, is seen as proof of weak governance with the Co-operative Group.