Northampton South Tories and MP deny any knowledge of election payments link alleged by BBC

Yesterday, in a report compiled by the BBC’s investigations department, it was alleged that two individuals and a company that had donated £10,000 each to the association’s fighting fund had received money from 1st Land. 1st Land was the company behind the stalled redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium.

In a statement released to the Chronicle & Echo, the Northampton South Conservative Association said it had no knowledge of the alleged link.

The statement read: “From the report [yesterday] of £30,000 donations made to David Mackintosh’ s election fighting fund by individuals linked to 1st Land, a company linked to the development of Northampton Town Football Club in 2014, the Northampton South Conservative Association (NSCA) chairman, Suresh Patel, stated: “The donations were received in 2014 without the offices of the Northampton South Conservative Association being aware of the common link between the three donors and 1st Land, a company owned by Mr Howard Grossman.

“The association immediately referred the donations to the compliance officer at Conservative campaign HQ for scrutiny.

“At that time, nothing was known of the links between the individuals and company when making the donations and 1st Land and the planned development of the Sixfields stadium.

“The compliance officer of the Conservative Party examined the individuals and intermediaries involved in making the donations in 2014 and could find no reasons at the time why they could not be accepted.

“The NSCA was advised accordingly.”

Mr Mackintosh also strenuously denied any knowledge of any alleged links.

A spokesman for the Northampton South MP told the Chronicle & Echo that Mr Mackintosh knew nothing about those transactions.

The spokesman said: “David refutes the allegations made in the BBC story. No evidence has been provided to us of these payments.

“He denies any knowledge of any payment between 1st Land and those donors.”

In an earlier statement, Mr Mackintosh said ‘no-one wants to know more than him’ the outcome of the investigations into the loan money given to develop Sixfields Stadium after the BBC’s allegations.

Mr Mackintosh said: “As I have said continuously, I welcome the investigations underway into allegations relating to Sixfields Stadium and look forward to them concluding so everyone can understand what happened. Nobody wants to know this more than me.”

In a statement late yesterday Mr Mackintosh added: ““I had no discussions with the donors about Sixfields, I was not aware of any business links between the donors and 1st Land.”

A spokesman for Northampton South Conservative Association said: “The donations were received from the named donors and properly declared. This has been verified on our paperwork and declared to the Electoral Commission.”]#

Legal representatives of 1st Land and Mr Grossman were approached for comment yesterday.