A disgraced Liverpool City Council chief still has the use of a taxpayer-funded car.
Ged Fitzgerald was suspended from duty in September after being arrested on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and witness intimidation.
The charge relates to Mr Fitzgerald’s time in charge of Lancashire County Council and the local authority’s links with a BT-operated venture One Connect.
Liverpool City Council have confirmed that the 55-year-old retains use of a Jaguar XF 2.0d Portfolio while ‘voluntarily remaining off work’ for four months.
Mr Fitzgerald will still have use of the car during his ongoing suspension while he remains on police bail over the charges relating to the One Connect case.
The news comes after a council budget meeting in which Mayor Joe Anderson angrily denied that Mr Fitzgerald was still in receipt of a taxpayer-funded car.
It has also been revealed that the Labour-run council’s number of luxury car leases to their highly-paid senior officials has doubled since 2012.
The information was uncovered after a Freedom of Information request that was made by Andrew Makinson, deputy of the city’s Liberal Democrats.
Cllr Makinson made the FOI submission after council officials had refused to answer his questions directly.
It was revealed that council tax payers had funded Mr Fitzgerald’s lease of a Mercedes E350, worth £41,465.30 while regeneration director Nick Kavanagh was similarly provided with a BMW 530i M Sport, valued at £45,713.12.
Cllr Makinson has discovered that those cars were later upgraded to a new Jaguar XF Sports Saloon and a Mercedes C250.
Additional cars have also been leased for the council’s finance director Becky Hellard and director of community services Ron Odunaiya.
“Liverpool council tax payers are already paying Mr Fitzgerald £210,000 a year to sit at home,” said Cllr Makinson.
“Paying for him to also drive around in luxury is a real smack in the teeth to low paid council workers, and families struggling to pay their monthly council tax bills.
“At a time when the council is cutting staff and services, it is appalling that this Labour council insists on giving extra perks to people who are already among the highest paid in the country.
“The council should take the first opportunity to put an end to all of these luxury car leases.
“Jeremy Corbyn says he is ‘For the many’ but in Liverpool this Labour council is most definitely ‘For the few.’