Len McCluskey has repaid more than £400,000 contributed by his union towards the purchase of a £700,000 London flat, leaked documents disclose.



The leader of Unite, who is a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, returned the union’s entire contribution to his apartment last month, according to internal union minutes.



It comes as McCluskey faces an official probe into his re-election as leader of Britain’s biggest trade union. His rival, Gerard Coyne, has questioned whether union resources were properly used to assist with the London flat.

The money was paid in February 2016 towards the purchase of a two-bedroom apartment near London Bridge, just south of the river Thames.

When the Guardian disclosed the contribution in September 2016, the union said the purchase agreement was not a loan but an equity share arrangement that would be repaid 12 months after McCluskey’s employment ended.



McCluskey’s repayments were announced earlier this month at a finance and general purposes committee meeting by the executive finance director, Ed Sabisky. It is believed that he has repaid more than the union’s initial contribution to reflect an increase in the value of the property.



“On 26 January 2018, the general secretary had paid the last amount owed and had purchased from the union its remaining share in his flat,” the minutes from the meeting noted.

“The union no longer owns a share in the general secretary’s flat.”

The flat is two miles from the union’s offices in Holborn. According to Land Registry documents, Leonard McCluskey became the registered owner of the £695,500 flat in February 2016. Unite paid £417,300 towards the flat and signed the agreement with McCluskey.

Some union executive members complained that the flat had been purchased without their knowledge. However, the union said the deal was completed with the “full authority” of its executive council.

According to an estimate on the property website Zoopla, the property is now worth £748,000.



The minutes state that Sabisky told officials the union had profited more from the scheme than if it had banked the money.

“The executive director further pointed out that under the formula where the union had a share in the equity of the flat, the union had realised seven times more money than would have been earned in interest,” the minutes said.



“The equity share scheme has again been shown to be helpful to union officials required to live where housing prices are high as well as a benefit (and certainly no detriment) to members who have gained from the property’s appreciation.”

However, the minutes do not explain how the union calculated McCluskey’s final contribution.

The Guardian has asked for a full breakdown of the figures explaining how much was repaid by McCluskey.

Howard Beckett, executive director for legal services at Unite, told the Guardian in 2016 that the full agreement signed with McCluskey, which has not been disclosed, ensured that the union would not lose out.

The union’s influence over Corbyn’s Labour came under increased scrutiny last week after Iain McNicol stood down as the party’s general secretary. Unite official Jennie Formby has been tipped as the favourite to replace him.

Unite is the party’s most generous financial backer and McCluskey’s support has been seen as vital to the Labour leader over two years of challenges from some of his MPs.

Retired high court judge Jeffrey Burke has been appointed by the certification officer to hear claims from Coyne that McCluskey and his staff manipulated union procedures to win the vote instead of him.

The complaints centre on alleged breaches including allowing McCluskey to use databases while stopping Coyne from doing the same during the campaign and union employees seeking to prevent Coyne raising the question of whether union resources were improperly used to assist with the purchase of the flat.

Unite insisted that the deal had been a “sound and prudent investment” involving a “modest flat”.

A Unite spokesperson said: “The arrangement between Len McCluskey and Unite with regard to his flat has been one of shared equity ownership. This arrangement has been to the financial benefit of the union and was agreed and endorsed by the appropriate union structures.

“The continued efforts of the Guardian to misrepresent this arrangement is not only unworthy; it suggests a willingness to oblige those who seek to bring our union into disrepute for their own ends.

“It is common for unions to make such shared equity arrangements in order to help senior employed officials live and work in the capital. This modest flat was essential to allow the general secretary to work in London at Unite’s head office.

“It is for the union to decide whether to sell its interest to the employee over the years of their employment for financial benefit to the organisation.”