Serious Fraud Office to investigate £112m union hotel complex
An inquiry into Unite the Union’s hotel and conference centre in Birmingham, developed by a Liverpool builder, has been handed over to the Serious Fraud Office, according to the Union.
Unite had spent £112m as costs spiralled but the scheme had been valued at £29m after a KC-led inquiry was ordered by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.
The SFO probe, first reported by the BBC, will look into the KC-led inquiry into the costs of the Birmingham hotel, whilst the independent forensic reports into the union’s affiliated services are currently part of an investigation by South Wales Police.
A Unite spokesperson told TheBusinessDesk: “These inquiries have shown what we believe to be serious financial wrongdoing during the previous regime led by Len McCluskey and supported by the United Left factional group.”
A spokesperson for the SFO stressed that: “In line with long established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter.”
The development on Birmingham Science Park Aston has a controversial history since the contract was awarded to Liverpool construction company Flanagan Group, run by Paul Flanagan, which had not previously built something of this scale.
The health and safety contract was given to SSC, a company owned by David Anderson, the son of former Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson. Paul Flanagan, David and Joe Anderson had been arrested on suspicion of bribery by Merseyside Police in an investigation unrelated to Unite in 2020.
Former general secretary Len McCluskey has previously defended the spending as a “sensible investment of members’ money, resulting in a world-class facility that will return an income for our union for generations to come”.
Unite says that Graham has been subject to “three years of sickening and horrendous attacks” since she commissioned the independent inquiry into the project and further inquiries into the union’s affiliated services.
She has also “kept her promise to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in uncovering any wrongdoing that took place prior to her election”.
Whilst limited in what Unite can currently say due to the police investigation, the Union said it will issue an interim report into the findings of the reports.
“Unite is currently pursuing legal claims to recover money lost to the union and the general secretary has put safeguards in place to ensure that such things can never happen again.”
