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Liverpool Mayor quizzed under police caution

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool Credit: pa

The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has been interviewed under caution by police. He was questioned by officers from Lancashire, relating to an ongoing fraud investigation that has seen the council's chief executive Ged Fitzgerald arrested. The interview was believed to have taken place at the end of last year. Mayor Anderson has issued a statement :

This is a hugely complex issue and one which I have been clear on from the outset of the police investigation. As Mayor, I have given instructions that Liverpool City Council, its officers and members will cooperate fully with Lancashire Police in their enquiries. In connection with that, a number of people have been voluntarily interviewed. I have met the police on several occasions as Mayor and one of those was voluntarily under caution which I positively wanted to attend to evidence my full cooperation and assistance in their enquiries. All individuals approached at the council have likewise been encouraged to co-operate fully with Lancashire Police.

The council is also providing dedicated administrative assistance to Lancashire Police for the full disclosure of required documentation and electronic data. I have committed these council resources to the police inquiry throughout the length of the investigation, with the purpose of being as cooperative and transparent as possible. As has been made known previously, the City Council is also proceeding with its own internal enquiries.

Of course, this is a live police investigation and I look forward to the time when I can comment more fully, but I am sure you will appreciate that at this point the council is limited as to what it can say, so that the integrity of the police investigation is not prejudiced. I fully respect that position.

– Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool