A BUSINESSMAN secured millionw of pounds worth of contracts from Cleveland Police while footing the bill for lavish hospitality for senior members of the force embroiled in a corruption investigation.

At least three firms with connections to Rob Beattie spent thousands of pounds on season tickets at Middlesbrough Football Club as well as paying for trips to international rugby matches and Champions' League football matches.

The businessman, based in South Wales, who was arrested in connection with Operation Sacristy, was named in documents released after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press charges on any of the ten people arrested during the 41-month corruption probe as there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.

The 53-year-old helped secure the contract for Reliance Secure Task Management just months after paying for senior officers, including disgraced former chief constable Sean Price, and officials from Cleveland Police Authority, including former chairman Dave McLuckie and former chief executive Joe McCarthy.

Reliance then took on Mr McCarthy as a managing director straight after he left the authority with a £360,000 redundancy package. He left the post in 2012 when the company was taken over.

In March 2007 Mr Beattie became a director of Enterprise Development Group, which later secured almost £1m worth of contracts from the force over a three year period.

According to the documents, the company paid thousands of pounds for a season ticket at Middlesbrough for 08/09, as well as paying for guests to attend several other games throughout that season.

The next two seasons, another company where Mr Beattie is a director, bus company W Collins and Co, paid more than £10,000 for a season ticket at Middlesbrough.

And in October 2010, he was a guest alongside Mr Price and Mr McLuckie, at a football match in Nottingham paid for by Steria, which secured a £175m contract for the force that year.

Mr Beattie was arrested during the inquiry but has been told that he will not face any charges. He denied any wrongdoing, said the executive boxes were not solely for police use and criticised the inquiry.

Speaking to The Independent, he said: “I worked up at Cleveland Police. As far as I’m aware did a very good job for them, helped them save tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of pounds, and changed the organisation.

“The fact that we had a box at Middlesbrough Football Club has no direct relevance to Cleveland Police in that respect except the number of times where they’ve registered that they’ve come along as guests and seen the football… it’s not solely for, or specially for, the use of Cleveland Police.”