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Paul Flowers, a Methodist minister who led the
bank for three years until he stepped down in June, has
apologized after footage of him allegedly buying drugs emerged
this week. The Mail on Sunday reported that he bought crystal
meth, cocaine and ketamine just days after lawmakers grilled him
on the bank's disastrous finances. Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers Wednesday that "many
questions have to be answered" regarding the Co-op Bank,
including why Flowers — who he said had "driven (the bank) into
the wall" — came to be appointed as its chairman in the first
place. "Why was Reverend Flowers judged suitable to be chairman of a
bank? Why weren't alarm bells ringing earlier, particularly by
those who knew?" Cameron asked. The Methodist Church said Wednesday that Flowers had been
suspended indefinitely from his post as minister. Flowers, 63, is already under police investigation in relation
to the allegations. It has also emerged that he was found to
have downloaded "inappropriate" adult images on his work
computer when he was a local official for the Labour Party in
2011. Len Wardle, the chairman of the Co-operative Group, Britain's
largest mutual society, quit Tuesday as the scandal grew. The
group's governance had already been under scrutiny in the wake
of troubles that emerged following its 2009 acquisition of the
Britannia Building society and its aborted interest in the
purchase of some 630 branches from another U.K. lender, Lloyds
Bank. The bank has had to plug a 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) black hole in its finances and recently agreed to a bailout plan by hedge funds. [Associated Press; SYLVIA HUI] Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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