A former Conservative MP and council leader failed to declare £39,000 in “underhand” donations to his political campaign funds had come from a property developer, a jury has been told.
On Tuesday, a jury at Warwick Crown Court heard David Mackintosh, 44, who was MP for Northampton South between May 2015 and May 2017, first met property developer Howard Grossman in 2012 and the donations were made two years later.
Mr. Mackintosh, the former leader of Northampton Borough Council—which no longer exists—and Mr. Grossman, 61, both deny two allegations of failing to provide information in relation to nine donations to a registered political party.
It is the first prosecution for the offences, which were created by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
The pair deny failing to provide the source of donations to the Northampton South Conservative Association.
David Mackintosh, who represented Northampton South between 2015 and 2017, is standing trial alongside his friend Howard Grossman, who is accused of using third parties to conceal the source of nine separate donations to the Northampton South Conservative Association.
Mackintosh, of Northampton, and Grossman, from Bushey in Hertfordshire, both deny two counts of failing to ensure details were provided in respect of political donations during 2014.
Opening the case against the men at Warwick Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutor William Boyce, KC, told jurors the case, “cuts across transparency and democracy.”
He said: “This case is about a series of political donations made by Mr. Grossman ... He donated £39,000 to Mr. Mackintosh’s fighting fund not in his own name … pretending in essence that they (other people) were the donors.”
‘Received Donations ... in an Underhand way’
Mr. Boyce said, “The case against Mr. Mackintosh is that he received those donations knowing that Mr. Grossman was doing it in that underhand way.”The prosecutor said the jury would have to decide if Mr. Mackintosh was aware of the true source of the donations.
He said: “On Mr. Mackintosh’s case, Mr. Grossman’s generosity must have extended to helping him … without telling his friend what he was doing.”
“This case is not about why he (Mr. Grossman) wished to donate money, it’s about the methodology he employed in doing so. The prosecution do not have to prove why he did it,” added Mr. Boyce.
Businessman Said Donations Were ‘Kosher’
Another of the £10,000 donors, Gary Platt, emailed Mr. Grossman asking him, “Are you 100 percent this is above board?” to which the businessman replied it was, “all kosher and good”, Mr. Boyce added.The prosecutor said the pair shared an interest in the redevelopment of Northampton Town football club’s Sixfields Stadium.
Mr. Boyce said Mr. Grossman and Mr. Mackintosh first met in 2012 after the developer began discussions with David Cardoza, the then-owner of Northampton Town, about redeveloping the stadium.
In July 2013, the borough council agreed to lend the football club, known as The Cobblers, up to £12 million.
Mr. Boyce said Mr. Grossman helped to arrange a £295-per-head fundraiser for Mr. Mackintosh at the Carlton Club in November 2014.
By then he was the Tory candidate for the safe seat of Northampton South, after the MP Brian Binley announced he had been diagnosed with cancer and would not fight the next general election in May 2015.
The court heard that when Mr. Mackintosh was interviewed by Northamptonshire Police in March 2018 he gave no comment answers to all the questions he was asked but gave a prepared statement in which he said two other councillors had benefited from funds donated to the local Conservatives.
Mr. Grossman also provided the police with a prepared statement, saying he was “genuinely impressed” by Mr. Mackintosh and wished to support him, having first met him in June 2013.
The trial is expected to finish in December.
