Union boss Len McCluskey took private jet flights arranged by building firm, report findsinds

According to a report by the BBC, former Unit Boss Len McCluskey, who built a hotel for millions of pounds for the union, has enjoyed special jet flights and football tickets.

Unite Report, Flanagan Group, run by Mr. McCluskey’s friends, has charged UNIT for at least 30 million £ for the Birmingham Hotel and Conference Center project.

Furthermore, Mr. McCluskey found that he was “invalid”, one of the personnel and union lawyers in signing the construction contract with the Flanagan Group.

Unite’s report, special jet flights and football tickets “Flanagan group constantly organized and paid” and “no symptoms,” he said. McCluskey was later paid back.

Mr. McCluskey’s lawyers said that he paid his own trip to the BBC and that he always paid the cost of football tickets.

He rejected his staff or lawyers invalid. Flanagan Group did not respond to repeated comments.

Before he retired in 2021, Mr. McCluskey was one of the most powerful figures of the union movement and was the leading supporter of Jeremy Corbyn during his time as a worker leader. It continues to be an effective figure on the left of British politics.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Unite Hotel Project, which aims to be a place for a financial investment and meetings for the members of the union.

However, it was largely passed to the budget and was controversial, a serious fraud office last year launched an investigation on this issue.

When Sharon Graham took over as the Secretary General of Unite from Mr. McCluskey, he launched a series of internal investigations after discovering significant inconsistencies in the union’s accounts.

Unite’s auditors found that the union spent 125 million pounds in the development of hotel and conference center, which has been worth only £ 38 million since then.

“I was absolutely surprised,” Graham said to the BBC.

“I could feel the pit of my stomach fell thinking about what was going on here?

“In fact, there is no way to claim that this is a Whoopsie-Daisy moment … Either lack of rank or something else.”

Graham assigned a construction lawyer Martin Bowdery KC to investigate the costs and accounts of the project.

The BBC saw a summary of Bowdery’s report that the Union was submitted to the Executive Council.

The report says:

• The Union spent at least 72 million £ more than “at least” than the hotel complex
• Unite gave the Flanagan group to the “no competitive tender process” and “delays, despite the fact that” and “a bad performance history” and despite cost offices in previous contracts. “
• Mr. McClluskey described the bosses of the company as “good friends”

Mr. McCluskey’s lawyers said he was unaware of the concerns of staff or union lawyers at the time of the construction contract, that he did not remember the signed the articles of association and that he was not involved in the decision to choose the Flanagan Group.

His lawyers said he categorically rejected the proposal for inappropriate relationships.

The Flanagan Group did not respond to repeated comments, but he said that the BBC had previously been “proud of his work on schema” and “radical changes in design and work practices”.

According to Unite’s report, McCluskey received special jet flights to watch the team he supported, and played in the 2018 and 2019 Champions League finals in Liverpool FC, Kiev and Madrid.

The sources told the BBC that he was traveling at the Falcon 900B business jet once.

The owners of the aircraft, “8 leather club seats, full -length bed, completely stocked galleys and cabin sound system”, including “super -size comfort” offers, he said.

The aviation company Global Charter estimated that the return journey would be between £ 40,000 to £ 47,500.

Unite’s report also claims that Mr. McCluskey has received tickets for five Liverpool FC games, four of them in England, four of them Matchday Hospitality.

“It comes from McCluskey’s tickets and flight information from McCluskey’s unit e -mail.”

Mr. McCluskey’s lawyers said he had paid his trip fully and remembered that he was traveling with a commercial carrier on one of the flights.

Sometimes they said that he participated in football matches with flanals, but he always paid his way and did not believe that he had even participated in all indigenous matches, as allegedly allegedly in Unite’s report.

Mr. McClluskey has no suggestions that violated Unite’s gifts or the rules of hospitality, because there was no such policy. Since then, Sharon Graham has brought a gift and hospitality policy.

He also hired a new finance director and supply officials as part of what he calls “cleaning”.

He said, “Maybe a woman to do this.” “And now I have revealed, I will make sure it never happened again.”

Ms. Graham is also trying to return millions of spent at the hotel. “I’m waiting back to the union because it is the money of these members.” “And I will do everything I can to make sure it happened.”

In 2012, the first forecasts for the hotel project, claimed that it would cost £ 7 million.

However, the scale of the union’s ambitions grew in the time of Mr. McCluskey as a Secretary General from 2011 to 2021 and the construction bill of the construction bill is balloon.

Finally, a total of £ 96 million was paid to the Four Star Hotel and Conference Center, which was opened for business in 2021.

In his report, Bowdery said that there was more than £ 30 million and the company offers invoices “to a large extent through original estimates”.

In an example, it is claimed that the company bills £ 1.3 million for the work that needs £ 90,000.

The report said that the Flanagan group was paid 3.7 million pounds for adverse weather delays, but the company says, “He did not qualify for adverse weather,” he says.

The company did not respond to the requests of the comment, but previously said: “We would like to make it clear that this plan has been given fairly and it should be seen as an extraordinary being for the Union.”

Len McCluskey and Flanagan Group said that cost excesses were previously caused by the hotel project that uses partly unionized labor.

The construction industry is known to use freelancers that are not directly employed and are not represented by tradesmen unions.

However, the Bowdery report said: “There is no real financial evidence of any cost of cost caused by this.”

He added that Flanagans were not clear that Unite complies with the needs of the Union Labor Agreement and that “refused to give information for the approval of unity work”.

In 2017, the e -mails transmitted or copied to Mr. McCluskey said that the “majority of the labor force” was not in union agreements.

Mr. McCluskey’s lawyers said he did not remember the e-mails, but the proposal of the union without union will be handled in accordance with the proposal.

In the report, there was no document showing that he decided to appoint flanagans.

He also says that Mr. McClluskey said that the decision of the investigation was given by Unite’s former Finance Director Ed Sabisky.

This contradicts the investigation of a Unite official who says that Sabisky was “100%” 100% “against the Flanagan Group, but was rejected by Mr. McCluskey.

Ed Sabisky died in March 2020 after the BBC could not confirm this account.

The Bowdery report said Mr. McCluskey signed the main hotel contract. He said he didn’t remember his lawyers signed to the BBC.