Fraud probe halts work on £70m Salford apartment towers

Work started in 2017 on The Residence overlooking the River Irwell in Salford

Work on two £70m luxury apartment blocks in Salford has stalled after the developer's owner was arrested.

Work started in 2017 on The Residence - two towers, one 15 storeys and one 34 - overlooking the River Irwell.

Developer Elliot Group said it had "called a moratorium" on the project after boss Elliot Lawless, 32, was held on suspicion of fraud in December. He denies the allegation.

Liverpool council regeneration chief Nick Kavanagh, 50, was also arrested.

Mr Kavanagh has not commented publicly since his arrest.

Both were held on suspicion of a range of fraud, bribery, corruption and misconduct offences, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Nobody has been charged and the pair remain on bail, Merseyside Police said.

Both are also implicated in a fraud investigation regarding two high-rise apartment blocks in Liverpool city centre.

Elliot Group said it was writing to investors to ask them to "bring forward" their payments to "enable us to complete the project".

A spokesman said: "We have called a moratorium whilst we finalise funding for the project's build-out, a task that has been made more difficult, of course, by the police's ongoing investigation.

"In essence, we're asking them to make a payment off their balance each quarter for the next year and will pay them interest on each deposit. It's not extra cash, just what they had agreed to at the outset, but on an accelerated timetable."