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Ex-Co-op boss investigated for drugs offences
Police have confirmed that the former deputy chair of Co-op Bank could face charges for buying cocaine and ketamine.
Paul Flowers is alleged to have been caught on camera buying the class A drugs following a hearing with the Treasury Select Committee hearing. According to The Guardian.
Flowers – an ex- Methodist minister – has apologised for his “stupid and wrong” behaviour and said he was seeking professional help after being confronted with a video that showed him counting out £300 in cash in response to a request for “money for the coke”.
Flowers, chair of the anti-drugs charity Lifeline, was exposed when a friend recorded and sent a video of his drug deal to the Daily Mirror.
In a statement, Flowers said:
“This year has been incredibly difficult, with a death in the family and the pressures of my role with the Co-operative Bank,” he said.
“At the lowest point in this terrible period, I did things that were stupid and wrong. I am sorry for this and I am seeking professional help and apologise to all I have hurt or failed by my actions.”
A text message sent from Flowers to his friend Stuart Davies said:
“I was ‘grilled’ by the Treasury Select Committee yesterday and afterwards came to Manchester to get wasted with friends.”
In others he said he was on “ket” or ketamine and had the club drug GHB. Davies also said he smoked cannabis with Flowers and witnessed him smoking crack cocaine.
The Co-operative Bank said it had no comment, while the Methodist church said it had suspended Flowers as a result of the allegations.
Flowers gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on 6 November, and in a free-wheeling evidence session asserted his conviction politicians had been behind Co-operative Group’s merger with the Britannia Building Society in 2009.
He said the Britannia merger took place after an MP submitted a private member’s bill to enable two different types of mutuals to join together:
“At that time we were being given considerable nods and winks from the Treasury that it was a wise and good thing to happen.”
The Prudential Regulation Authority is investigating the events leading up to the discovery of a £1.5bn capital hole in the Co-operative Bank’s finances earlier this year.