Former Northampton MP David Mackintosh not among those arrested over £10.25million loan probe

Former Northampton South MP David Mackintosh has not been arrested nor interviewed under caution in relation to the Sixfields loan investigation.
David Mackintosh was leader of Northampton Borough Council when the loan to Northampton Town was granted in 2013.David Mackintosh was leader of Northampton Borough Council when the loan to Northampton Town was granted in 2013.
David Mackintosh was leader of Northampton Borough Council when the loan to Northampton Town was granted in 2013.

Northampton Borough Council handed The Cobblers more than £10 million to complete a stadium development back in 2013, but only a small proportion of the funds were ever passed on to the stadium builders, the Buckingham Group. The football club later defaulted on the loan repayments.

In November 2015, police launched an investigation to discover whether the funds had been misappropriated.

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In a statement released today, Northamptonshire Police has revealed that seven people have been arrested and nine people interviewed under caution since the start of the investigation in 2015. As yet, the identities of those arrested or questioned under caution have not been revealed by police.

However, former Northampton South MP David Mackintosh, who received £30,000 of election donations from people linked to the stadium developers in the run up to his 2015 election campaign, confirmed this afternoon he was not among those arrested.

He was leader of Northampton Borough Council when the loan to Cobblers was granted in 2013.

In a statement sent to the Chron, he said: "I have not been arrested nor have I been interviewed under caution.

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"As I have always said, I am willing to help Northamptonshire Police any way I can as nobody wants to know what happened more than me."

Mr Mackintosh announced he was not going to stand at the 2017 elections in April. Back then he issued a statement saying: "I now feel it is the right time for my constituents to have a new representative."

Northamptonshire Police says it has pursued 700 separate lines of inquiry as part of the loan investigation.

"To date, this has resulted in over 500 statements and reports being produced and more than 2,100 exhibits being seized," a spokesman said.

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"With the strict legal time limitations on how long an arrested person can remain in police custody or on bail, it often better serves the investigation of complex matters for interviews to be conducted voluntarily, but under caution.

"To date, this investigation has resulted in the arrest of seven individuals from across the country, with a further nine interviewed at length under caution.

"It is envisaged the investigative activity will continue for some months yet and so, at this stage, it is not appropriate to comment further on the nature of the interviews or the identity of those interviewed.

"As a prosecution decision file will only be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service at the conclusion of the investigation, at this time no inference should be drawn from the interview of any individual."