Derek Hatton has denied charges of misconduct in a public office.
The former deputy leader of Liverpool City Council and his wife Sonja both entered their pleas at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday (December 18).
Hatton, 77, was one of 12 people charged in connection with Operation Aloft, a police investigation into the council’s building and development contracts.
He previously pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing to bribery charges.
Mrs Hatton, 50, also denies accusations that she supplied her husband with confidential council information over matters of commercial and business use.
Both are due to stand trial alongside the city’s former mayor Joe Anderson, who has denied charges of bribery and misconduct in a public office.
Anderson’s charges include the alleged ‘sending of threatening letters to himself’ between the dates of June 28, 2010 and August 5, 2015.
His son David, 38, is also set to stand trial alongside him, the Hattons and erstwhile council director Andrew Barr following Mereyside Police’s probe.
Originally the anticipated 15-week trial was due to be heard in October next year but a judge ordered that it be delayed by six months to April 2027.
Fellow accused Nicholas Kavanagh, Philippa Cook, James Shalliker, Adam McLean, Julian Flanagan and Paul Flanagan go to trial from Februrary 23.