Northampton Town loan: Council 'couldn't find Anthony Cardoza'

Work on the East Stand at Sixfields is yet to be finished

A council trying to recoup £10.25m it loaned to Northampton Town Football Club has said it could not locate the father of the club's former chairman, it wanted to serve legal papers on.

Northampton Borough Council loaned the money for a redevelopment project, which has yet to be finished.

It wants to start civil proceedings against Anthony Cardoza, but said it could not find an address for him.

The council has been given leave to serve the papers on his solicitors.

As reported in the Northampton Chronicle, the council wants to claw back the money it lent to the Cobblers when Anthony and his son David Cardoza were directors.

Anthony Cardoza is named in the civil proceedings but orders need to be obtained to serve people overseas and it is believed he is living in France.

David Cardoza was arrested in January in relation to the loan

A spokeswoman for the borough council said: "We have been trying to locate Anthony Cardoza, who we need to serve legal papers on.

"Despite our efforts and the efforts of our solicitor, we have not been able to locate the whereabouts of Anthony Cardoza."

The council has said it has now been given permission, by a judge, to serve the legal papers at the address of Mr Cardoza's solicitors.

A judge made it clear efforts to locate Mr Cardoza had been made and there was no suggestion he was trying to avoid being served, but there was no known address for him.

The BBC has contacted Mr Cardoza's solicitors for a comment.

Mr Cardoza's son, David, a former director of the club, was arrested in January by police investigating "alleged financial irregularities" in relation to the loan. He was released on bail.

Last week the council announced it had reached an agreement where solicitors would keep half the proceeds of any sale of David Cardoza's £1.2m family home, in case of further legal action.