No comment: Former MP and businessman refused to answer questions when quizzed by police
The pre-prepared statements given by David Mackintosh and Howard Grossman were read to the jury in the ongoing political donations trial this morning
By Sarah Ward
A former MP and businessman co-accused of concealing political donations, refused to answer police questions, the crown court trial heard this morning.
Instead, David Mackintosh and Howard Grossman gave pre-prepared statements to the police when they were interviewed after voluntarily attending in March 2018 and October 2017, respectively.
Both men are co-accused under the political parties, elections and referendum act 2000, of hiding the true source of funds given to Mackintosh’s election campaign between April and September 2014.
Their statements were read out in Warwick Crown Court this morning by the prosecution, on the ninth day of the trial which is expected to last up to six weeks.
Grossman, who in July 2013 had agreed terms with the football club regarding the development of Sixfields stadium, said in his statement that when he first met Mackintosh [it has been agreed by both prosecution and defence that this happened in September 2012) that he found Mackintosh an ‘attractive’ politician and was ‘enthused’ by him.
He said they had similar concerns around drug issues - his statement said he was involved in setting up the Amy Winehouse Foundation - and he decided that while he had always been a Conservative supporter ‘from the touchlines’, due to his involvement with the town through the stadium project he wanted to support the local Conservative party.
His statement said that when he and Mackintosh met at an official event in the town in March 2014 and they discussed how he could donate to the party:
“He said I should speak to Suresh Patel, who was the Northampton South party chair.”
His statement said he had met with Suresh Patel before and could not remember where they spoke about the donations, but:
“He informed me I should make the donations through third parties.”
In his statement Grossman, 61, of Greenacres, Bushey, Middlesex, said this was due to Mr Patel saying his connection to the football club would raise eyebrows.
His statement continued:
“I felt a bit deflated, but thought ‘What the hell’. It was what I wanted to do.”
He said Mr Patel did not tell him there was anything wrong with donating in that way. He said he had ‘nothing to gain’ from donating to Mackintosh’s campaign as the contracts with the football club had already been signed.
In his statement Mackintosh, 44, of Station Court, Northampton, said he did not know the money being donated to him was coming through Grossman.
“I believed them as being from the people they were registered as being from.”
In his written statement, he said Grossman, who had become a friend, had said he knew people who wanted to donate to his campaign fund and Mackintosh said he directed him to Suresh Patel.
He said it was not his legal responsibility to register donations and he was not a signatory on the bank account into which the money was paid.
The trial continues and the jury will sit again on Monday.