Fourth Man Arrested in Connection with Tottenham Spying Probe

Police investigations into allegations that Tottenham spied on Olympic officials during its failed bid to take over the main stadium after the 2012 Games have merited an arrest of a fourth man thought to be involved.

A 45-year-old man in south London was held on suspicion of fraud and an “amount of material was seized” in a search of his residential property, police said. His name was not released.

The Scotland Yard probe began in August when allegations of wrongdoing in the bidding process were made by West Ham and the Olympic Park Legacy Company, whose board members decide the future of venues on the site of the 2012 Games.

During a London Assembly committee hearing last year, OPLC chair Margaret Ford accused Tottenham of ordering surveillance on all 14 members of the legacy company board.

Tottenham denies any allegations of spying or the illegal obtaining of information.

It emerged during a separate High Court case that a company, which a judge said was hired by Tottenham, had copies of a West Ham executive’s telephone records that had been “unlawfully obtained by subterfuge.”

The investigators allegedly employed by Tottenham were from the accountancy firm PKF, whose former partner Howard Hill was arrested last week on suspicion of fraud.

Police investigating the illegal procurement of information made their first two arrests last November. There have been no charges filed in the case.

PKF denies any unlawful activity and said it has had no communication with Hill since he resigned from the firm in December.

Tottenham previously insisted that it “did not instruct PKF to engage in any unlawful activity and PKF have confirmed that they did not.”

West Ham’s deal to take over the $744 million Olympic Stadium collapsed in October amid legal uncertainty.

Instead, the venue will remain in public ownership and be rented after the Olympics. West Ham hasn’t decided whether to bid again or redevelop its existing Upton Park ground.