Health care worker held as Scotland Yard makes 71st Operation Elveden arrest

A man was arrested this morning in connection with the investigation into corrupt payments to police and public officials, Scotland Yard said.

The 46-year-old health care trust worker was held at around 6am at his home in Merseyside on suspicion of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

He was taken to a police station in Liverpool for questioning while police searched his property.

The arrest was the 71st by the Metropolitan Police under Operation Elveden, the force said.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "The man, who works for a health care trust, was arrested at approximately 6am at his home in Merseyside, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, contrary to Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

"He is being interviewed at a police station in Liverpool and a search of his property is being conducted.

"At this stage we are not prepared to comment further on a live investigation."

The inquiry is being run alongside two other investigations – Operation Weeting, which is looking at alleged phone hacking, and Operation Tuleta, which focuses on computer hacking and other alleged privacy breaches.