Ex-MP and Harrow trio charged over football club loan

David Mackintosh appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday, charged with offences allegedly committed under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums (PERA) Act.

He has been charged alongside three people from Harrow over the disappearance of a £10.25million loan to Northampton Town FC.

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The offences are said to have taken place in 2014, months after Mackintosh was selected to fight the constituency of Northampton South at the end of the previous year and relate to nine donations.

Mackintosh was first elected as Northampton South MP in 2015, before later announcing he would not contest his seat in the June 2017 General Election.

The 43-year-old, who is also former leader of the now defunct Northampton Borough Council and co-defendant, property developer Howard Grossman, each face two allegations of failing to provide information in relation to donations to a registered political party, Northampton South Conservative Association (NSCA).

David Mackintosh, the former Conservative MP and leader of Northampton Borough Council, arriving at Northampton Magistrates' Court at an earlier date (Image: PA)

Mackintosh, of Station Road, Northampton, appeared for a brief hearing over a videolink, wearing a suit.

Grossman, 61, of Caldecote Gardens, Bushey, Hertfordshire, did not appear but was represented in court by his barrister Chantel Gaber.

Both men are on bail.

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The charges can only now be reported after restrictions were lifted on the case.

Mackintosh and Grossman were charged at the end of last year following an investigation by Northamptonshire Police, which was triggered after the disappearance of a £10.25 million loan made in 2014 from the borough council to Northampton Town Football Club for a stadium redevelopment project.

Both deny any wrongdoing and are set to stand trial on October 23, alongside three other people charged in connection with the investigation.

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Gary Platt, 66, of West Drive in Harrow, Nutan Bhimjiyani, 62, and her husband Sharad Bhimjiyani, 67, both of Headstone Lane in Harrow, all London, have also been charged with a single like offence.

Platt has denied a charge of failing to provide information about a political donation to the the same Conservative association in April 2014.

Mr Bhimjiyani and Mrs Bhimjiyani are also alleged to have failed to provide information about a donation made to the association in June 2014.

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