Merseyside Police's investigation into corruption in Liverpool took a significant step this week.
Operation Aloft is an investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption linked to building and development contracts in Liverpool. The probe has resulted in a number of high profile arrests linked to Liverpool City Council - including former Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson.
The investigation was launched in 2019 and exploded into view in dramatic fashion later in that year when Liverpool Council's then Director of Regeneration - Nick Kavanagh - was arrested at the local authority's Cunard Building headquarters on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and misconduct in a public office.
At the same time, city developer Elliot Lawless was held by Aloft detectives on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, bribery and corruption. Both men deny wrongdoing and have not been charged.
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It was roughly a year later when Aloft burst back into the news in even more significant fashion. On December 4 2020, the ECHO broke the news that then Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, had been arrested at his home.
He was arrested that day - along with four other men - in connection with offences of bribery and witness intimidation as part of the same investigation. One of those four men was the former mayor's son, David. Both Joe and David Anderson have denied any wrongdoing and neither have been charged.
Operation Aloft has seen numerous other figures arrested since it began, with several of those believed to be linked to Liverpool City Council. For legal reasons the ECHO cannot name all of those who have been arrested as part of the investigation.
The latest of those arrests came in November last year when a 47-year-old woman was held on suspicion of misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and breaches under the Data Protection Act following a dawn raid at an address in Livingstone Drive in Aigburth. The woman was the 13th arrest to come out of the investigation.
Merseyside Police confirmed to the ECHO this week that a file of evidence from the investigation has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.
In the majority of criminal investigations, police will make a decision about whether a suspect can be charged with an offence, however in more serious cases, the charging decision lies with the Crown Prosecution Service.
In these cases, the police will conduct an investigation and send a file to the CPS only when they think the case against a suspect is strong enough that it has the potential to pass the CPS charging test.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: "We can confirm that Operation Aloft, an extensive investigation into fraud, which includes bribery and corruption, is ongoing and an evidential file has been submitted to the CPS for consideration."
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