A property developer spent £1,825,000 on acquiring two sites that are now subject to a police investigation.
Liverpool businessman Elliot Lawless was arrested on December 18, 2019 on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, bribery and corruption. The developer has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has successfully challenged the legality of the warrants used by police to search his home and office.
The ECHO has now seen a legal document submitted to the High Court as part of his judicial review which has revealed how much the developer paid for two council owned sites. Both transactions now form part of a police investigation into council land and contracts codenamed Operation Aloft.
READ MORE: Developer's 'gun to the head' comment to senior council officer
A witness statement by Michael Murphy, a partner at solicitors Hill Dickinson, says that Mr Lawless paid £1.5m for Percy Place and £325,000 for a former college on Falkner Street.
Mr Murphy states that in relation to Percy Place Mr Lawless paid the £1.5m in instalments. Liverpool council charged Mr Lawless interest at five percent for deferring the payment over three instalments between September 2019 and April 2020.
Mr Murphy also states that the transaction did not cause a financial loss to Liverpool Council. In relation to the site on Falkner Street Mr Murphy states that Mr Lawless agreed to pay £425,000 to the council for Toxteth Community College.
However during negotiations this was reduced to £325,000 . The section 106 agreement, which is money paid by the developer to benefit the community, was £310,000.
Mr Murphy states that at one point Mr Lawless was required to pay for a fit-out of the site. However instead the local authority asked Mr Lawless to pay the S106 fee and the council would be responsible for the fit out.
Last year government inspector Max Caller made reference to the Falkner Street deal in his best value report. Mr Caller stated how the deal affected Blackburne House, a shelter for women who had suffered from domestic violence.
The Government report stated: “It is clear that Blackburne House believed that they had a side agreement with ELG that in exchange for supporting the scheme and helping with consultation they would get a fitted-out unit in which to carry out their work.”
However Mr Lawless responded to the findings by stating that the council was responsible for the fit out, not him. He said: "The case study seems to be missing a paragraph.
"A review of the contract for sale clearly shows in the development agreement that Liverpool City Council was responsible for the fit-out of the unit for Blackburne House.
"We could not complete on the acquisition of the site until this had been agreed so it was never our responsibility nor our intention."
In 2020 the ECHO obtained a copy of a high court judgement which followed a judicial review into Mr Lawless's arrest. The document revealed that Mr Lawless was arrested in relation to the sites on Percy Street and Falkner Street that he bought from the council.
The judgement said that there was an allegation of an "an improperly preferential basis." Earlier this year Mr Lawless declined to reveal to the ECHO how much he paid for the two sites.
When Mr Lawless was arrested police seized £337,342 in cash and 10,442.10 Euros. Merseyside police retained the money despite the High Court ruling that the search of Mr Lawless's home was unlawful
The ECHO approached Mr Lawless for comment on this story. A spokesperson for Liverpool council said: "We have no comment to make on this due to ongoing legal matters."
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