West Ham United are taking legal action against Tottenham Hotspur and the Sunday Times over allegations surrounding the validity of the Olympic Stadium bidding process.
West Ham United are taking legal action against Tottenham Hotspur and the Sunday Times over allegations surrounding the validity of the Olympic Stadium bidding process.
It was alleged in the newspaper that West Ham had paid £20,000 to Dionne Knight, the corporate director of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) before and after the club were chosen to take over the stadium. It claimed the payments for ‘consultancy work’ had been arranged by Hammers director Ian Tompkins who was in a relationship with Knight.
The alleged payments were unearthed by investigators hired by Spurs. The OPLC confirmed that an unnamed employee had been suspended while a potential clash of interests was investigated. They said, ‘It has come to our attention that an employee of the [OPLC] has been undertaking paid consultancy work for West Ham United FC. The company had no knowledge of this work and no permission was given to undertake it. This individual had no involvement whatsoever in our stadium process.’
West Ham said that they had paid Knight to work for them but denied that there was any wrongdoing, that the payments were secret or that the work was ‘connected in any way’ to the stadium bid. They said that Dionne Knight’s work for the Legacy Stadium Partnership, which is 50 per cent owned by the London Borough of Newham, was in relation to the procurement of a construction partner after the Olympic Games.