By Duncan Mackay
January 14 – A third person has been arrested in connection with allegations that Premier League Tottenham Hotspur spied on officials last year during their failed bid to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012.
The North London club were accused of ordering surveillance on all 14 members of the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s (OPLC) board during the Stadium bidding process, which ultimately chose West Ham United’s bid over that of Tottenham before the process collapsed last October.
Spurs denied the allegation, made by the OPLC chair, Baroness Margaret Ford, during a London Assembly Committee hearing last year.
Two people were arrested and bailed in November in connection with the alleged illegal procurement of information.
Now police say they have also arrested a 57-year-old man on Wednesday in Cheshire “on suspicion of fraud offences”.
He has been identified by The Daily Telegraph as Howard Hill, a former partner at accountancy firm PKF that a judge said last year “was engaged by Tottenham to carry out an investigation that was in some way connected with the Olympic Stadium.”
“Howard Hill resigned from the firm on December 15 and we have not had any communication with him since,” said PKF in a statement.
Tottenham denies any allegations of spying or the illegal obtaining of information, previously stressing that it “did not instruct PKF to engage in any unlawful activity and PKF have confirmed that they did not.”
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