An investment of £40m by Newham council in the transformation of the Olympic stadium after the 2012 games has been described as sending money “down the drain” by the borough’s mayor.
A special report on the investment found that it failed to meet one of Newham’s self-imposed conditions that it yield £3m per annum in returns.
The mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, said: “The view we can draw from this report is this was ultimately £40m down the drain.
“For me, the report helpfully tells us that concerns raised by financial advisors at the time — namely that a £3m return on a £40m investment was not achievable — were ignored.”
The special report blamed in part the accelorated procedure for finalising the investment which left councillors and officers with little time to digest the full complexity of the deal.
