Former Co-op boss Paul Flowers has arrived at court using a wheeled walking frame as he faces trial over an alleged £68,000 fraud.
The 73-year-old ex-Labour councillor was seen attending Manchester Crown Court today for a hearing over claims he committed fraud by abusing his position.
He is accused of carrying out the crime while acting as a power of attorney for Margaret Mary Jarvis and – after her death – when he acted as an executor.
No pleas were entered today as the case was adjourned to March 1.
Former Methodist minister Flowers previously suffered a stroke the day before he was due in court accused of fraud, a judge was told last September.
Flowers was not present for a brief hearing scheduled then at Manchester Magistrates’ Court where he was due to appear accused of defrauding a woman and using cheques while ‘dishonestly’ acting as power of attorney.
Former Co-op Bank boss Paul Flowers, 73, appeared at Manchester Crown Court today
The ex-Labour councillor, pictured using a wheeled walking frame to enter the court building, is alleged to have carried out a £68,000 fraud by abuse of position
District Judge Tom Mitchell adjourned the hearing for a month after being told Flowers had a stoke on August 29, the day before he was first due to first appear in court.
Flowers is a former Methodist minister, Labour councillor in both Rochdale and Bradford and chairman of Co-op Bank between 2010 and 2013.
Elizabeth Ridgway, defending him, asked for last September’s hearing to be adjourned.
She told how her client had sent an email on August 30 to say he had had a stroke the previous day and had been in hospital.
A letter was also received from community psychiatric services which said the stroke had impacted Flowers’ mobility and he was struggling to leave his home in Swinton, Salford.
Ms Ridgway said the letter asked for Flowers to be given time to recover his physical and mental health.
District Judge Mitchell said at the time: ‘A person must be before the court before they can be dealt with. He has to appear here at some point.’
Flowers served more than 15 years as a Labour Party councillor on Rochdale and Bradford councils.
During this period, in 2010, he was appointed to the party’s finance advisory board by then Labour leader Ed Miliband.
In 2009, the Co-operative Bank merged with Britannia Building Society and it was later revealed the merger led to a £1.5billion capital shortfall requiring an emergency rescue for the bank in 2013.
The fraud trial for Paul Flowers was adjourned until March 1 at Manchester Crown Court
Former Co-op Bank boss Paul Flowers in 2014, the year after it needed an emergency rescue
Then-Labour leader Ed Miliband, pictured, appointed Flowers to the party’s finance advisory board in 2010
Its owner, the Co-op Group, was wiped out and the bank is now owned by private equity groups.
A report concluded there had been broken corporate governance and executive management failings at the bank.
Flowers is accused of fraud by abuse of position.
The full charge against Flowers listed in court reads: ‘Between 28/6/16 and 28/10/17 at Salford committed fraud in that while occupying a position, namely Enduring Power of Attorney, in which you were expected to safeguard, or not act against the financial interests of Margaret Mary Jarvis, you dishonestly abused that position intending thereby to make a gain, namely staircase, carpets and 11 cheques paid to the defendant, for yourself, contrary to Sections 1 and 4 of the Fraud Act 2006.’
