A former healthcare worker has been arrested by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials, Scotland Yard said.
The 59-year-old man was held at around 6.30am today at his home in the Knowsley area of Merseyside on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, corruption and conspiracy to commit both those offences.
He was being questioned at a police station in Merseyside and his home was being searched.
The arrest – a result of information given to police by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee – brings the number of people detained under Operation Elveden, the investigation into inappropriate payments, to 57.
A Met spokesman said that the arrest: "relates to suspected payments to a public official and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."
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