A well known Liverpool businessman has been charged with drug offences as part of the penetration of the EncroChat phone network.
Martin Grant ,32, is facing charges of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and B drugs, and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Police have said the charges form part of the international investigation into the use of encrypted EncroChat phones.
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Grant is a former managing director of a Liverpool based health and safety company Safety Support Consultants Limited (SSC).
Grant, originally from the Old Swan area, joined the company in September 2019 and resigned in January 2021.
Earlier this year government inspector Max Caller criticised SSC's role in the demolition of Churchill flyover in Liverpool city centre.
Mr Caller found that SSC's involvement in the demolition 'exposed the site teams to considerable safety risks'.
The ECHO has not seen any evidence that Grant was involved in the Churchill flyover project.
Companies House records show that SSC entered into administration on March 26 - two days after the Caller Report was published.
Prior to administration SSC was based at Prospect House on Columbus Quay on the edge of Liverpool city centre.
David Anderson, chairman of SSC, was one of five men arrested as part of Merseyside Police's Operation Aloft corruption probe in December last year.
His father, Joe Anderson, was also arrested as part of the same operation and has stepped away from his then position as Mayor of Liverpool. Both men have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Their arrests are in no way linked to the charges Grant faces.
On September 30 police said that Martin Grant and Liam Grant, 25, of Holland Street in Fairfield, had been charged with conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine. The two men were also charged with conspiracy to cause GBH.
Court staff told the ECHO that the drug conspiracy charges against Martin Grant concern events between September 6 2019 and April 27 2021.
The drug charges against Liam Grant, who has been remanded in custody, concern events between February 5 2020 and September 30 this year.
Martin Grant has been technically bailed to appear before Liverpool Magistrates on November 2. Liam Grant will appear before Liverpool Crown Court on October 29.
The ECHO approached SSC for comment on this story.
The EncroChat network was hacked through a joint operation between French and Dutch investigators 15 months ago.
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