Ex-Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson and former politician Derek Hatton have been charged with bribery and misconduct over council contracts.
They are among 12 people charged with the offences, Merseyside Police said.
The force said the charges come ‘following an extensive investigation (Operation Aloft) connected to the awarding of commercial and business contracts from Liverpool City Council between 2010 and 2020’.
Today, Anderson’s son David Anderson, Andrew Barr, formerly the council’s assistant director of highways and planning and the council’s former head of regeneration Nick Kavanagh have also been charged with offences relating to the investigation.
All those charged range in age between 29 and 77, and they will all appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on March 28.
Joe Anderson became the first directly elected mayor of Liverpool in 2012, and served until 2020.
Veteran Labour politician Anderson resigned from his £80,000 post as Liverpool’s first elected mayor in 2020 after being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery as part of the police probe.
Anderson, who had led Liverpool City Council since 2010, initially resisted calls to resign, despite being suspended by the Labour Party while the investigation is going on.
At the time he insisted ‘time will make it clear’ that he is innocent.
Joe Anderson became the first directly elected mayor of Liverpool in 2012, and served until 2021
Former politician Derek Hatton has also been charged over the alleged offences, which are said to have taken place between 2010 and 2020
Hatton, the Trotskyist former deputy council leader and far-Left Militant group member, was questioned at the same time.
Ministers subsequently sent in Whitehall-appointed commissioners to run Liverpool council’s roads, planning, property and regeneration departments after inspectors uncovered a culture of bullying, avoidance of rules and money being wasted on improperly awarded contracts.
Merseyside police began an investigation into the awarding of building and regeneration contracts by the city council to developers in 2019.
Their inquiries are understood to have focused on several council-owned sites in the city, allegedly sold on an ‘improperly preferential basis’ to developers.
In full, those charged are:
- David Anderson, 37, of Wavertree, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office
- Joseph Anderson, 67, of Knotty Ash, charged with one count of Bribery, one count of misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office – former Mayor of Liverpool
- Andrew Barr, 51, of Ainsdale, charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and one count of bribery – former Assistant Director at Liverpool City Council
- Phillipa Cook, 49 of Mossley Hill, charged with two counts of bribery
- Alex Croft, 29, of Aughton, Lancashire, charged with one count of bribery
- Julian Flanagan, 53, of Crosby charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
- Paul Flanagan, 61, of Knowsley Village, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
- Derek Hatton, 77, of Aigburth, charged with one count of bribery and one count of counsel or procure misconduct in a public office
- Sonjia Hatton, 49, of Aigburth, charged with one count of misconduct in a public office
- Nicholas Kavanagh, 56, of Mossley Hill, charged with two counts of bribery – former Director at Liverpool City Council
- Adam McLean, 54, of Woolton, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
- James Shalliker, 38 of Downholland, Lancashire, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
