A senior Liverpool councillor said he expects the police to make 'more arrests over the summer' as part of an ongoing investigation linked to the local authority.
Liberal Democrat leader Richard Kemp was speaking at the first full meeting of the city council to be held in person for over a year last night.
The meeting, which was moved away from the town hall and held at Wavertree Tennis Centre to allow for social distancing, saw the council accept in full the findings and recommendations of the damning Max Caller government inspection report that was published in March.
That report lifted the lid on a shocking range of failures and practices in key council departments - and led to the appointment of government commissioners to oversee those areas of council work.
The Caller inspection was prompted by the arrest of former Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson as part of a Merseyside Police corruption investigation into building and development contracts in the city.
He denies wrongdoing but stepped aside and was replaced by a new Mayor Anderson at the recent elections.
Joanne Anderson, who is no relation to her predecessor, made her debut at last night's meeting and vowed to do whatever it takes to rebuild trust in the council and make the necessary changes demanded by the government.
But of course there was still plenty of discussion about what has taken place in recent years and Cllr Kemp was keen to stress that there may be more developments to come.
He said: "These are exceptional circumstances, we have 15 people arrested in this investigation, including the former political leader of this council.
"This is a situation that has never happened before at any other council.
"There are likely to be more arrests over the summer."
He added: "Now we must all work together on these important issues."
Mr Anderson, 63, was arrested on December 4 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation, his son David has confirmed that he was arrested as part of the same investigation at the same time.
Both men deny any wrongdoing and have said they will be taking legal action against Merseyside Police.
Mr Anderson has recently launched a new website with his full response to the Caller Report, which he claims was rife with 'lies and smears.'
The Times reports today that the former city leader is now planning to sue the government over its decision to send commissioners in to run parts of the scandal-hit city council.
