By james art The fraud watchdog is investigating the development of a hotel and conference center owned by one of Britain’s biggest unions.
Detectives from the Serious Fraud Office are looking into the Birmingham project, on which Unite spent £112 million of its members’ money.
The building has since been valued at just £23m, suggesting £83m has potentially been wasted.
The Tories said the inquiry raised serious questions about the government’s plans to overturn legislation passed by their party to tame unions.
Unite is one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, having donated £500,000 to 88 mostly left-wing MPs so far this year.
There have been repeated questions about his huge spending on the Birmingham complex, which also houses the union’s head office.
It features a 195-bedroom four-star hotel and a 1,000-capacity conference center and aims to save Unite money spent on venue hire.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, ordered an inquiry into the project after she replaces Jeremy Corbyn ally Len McCluskey in 2021.
The independent investigation, carried out by Martin Bowdery KC, identified a missing £14m which did not appear in the final accounts.
“No Stone Unturned”
Unite passed the findings to the police in December 2022, and on Monday a spokesman told the BBC the case was “now with the Serious Fraud Office”.
He said Ms Graham would “leave no stone unturned to find out if there is any financial wrongdoing” in relation to the project.
“It is important to note that Sharon Graham has had to endure repeated attacks from those with a lot to lose since she began these investigations, both inside and outside the union,” he said.
“They were disgusting and horrific, but she remained determined to get to the truth.
“We are also taking legal action to recover money lost to the union and the general secretary has put safeguards in place to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again.”
The revelation came after the government published its full plans to repeal a raft of anti-strike laws passed by Conservative ministers.
Saqib Bhatti, a Tory MP, described it as “an important story … as Labor brings in a bill to strengthen unions and give them freedom to act”.
A spokesman for the Serious Fraud Office said: “In line with long-established practice to avoid prejudicing law enforcement activities, we can neither confirm nor decline an investigation into this matter.”