The promised redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium was not completed.Photograph: Jon Buckle/PA Archive/PA Images
David Cardoza, the former chairman of Northampton Town, has been charged, alongside his father, with fraud in the long-running investigation into £10m of public money loaned to the club for a new stand that was never completed.
Cardoza, 54, is one of five men with former links to the redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium due to appear in court on Thursday charged with several counts of fraud and money laundering a decade after the money went missing.
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It will be the first time anyone has been brought before the court directly in relation to Operation Tuckhill, Northamptonshire police’s investigation into what happened to the £10.75m loaned by the local council to the club in order to develop a new stand and a hotel.
The money was loaned by Northampton borough council in 2013-14. The company contracted to oversee the project – 1st Land – was placed into administration in in January 2015.
Cardoza’s father, former director Anthony Cardoza, 80; Howard Grossman, a 63-year-old north London property developer and former director of 1st Land; his son, 37-year-old Marcus Grossman; and 54-year-old Simon Patnick, have also been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud between September 2013 and April 2015.
It is alleged they made false representations to Northampton borough council that money loaned by the authority to the football club would be used solely for developing Sixfields Stadium and an adjoining hotel, which were “untrue or misleading”.
The raid came after the council made a formal complaint that the money they had loaned was missing and the promised development, the new East Stand, had not been completed.
The club fell into financial difficulties before Cardoza announced he had sold it to businessman Kelvin Thomas, who now chairs the club.