A controversial contract to redevelop Hamilton’s waterfront never got the needed approval from the Corporation of Hamilton’s board, a source said yesterday.

The news came as Michael MacLean, whose Allied Development Partners Limited was later stripped of the contract, threatened fresh legal action for compensation on constitutional grounds.

But an insider said the December 2012 development agreement, which covered both the waterfront and into Hamilton Harbour, did not get the needed approval to go ahead.

An e-mail was sent by then mayor Graeme Outerbridge to his administrative team just a month before the ADPL deal was signed that emphasised any outside deals had to get board approval.

Mr Outerbridge’s e-mail written in November that year read: “Dear CoH managers, please take note that all leases and contracts with third parties must go before the CoH board for approval.

“The CoH passed a resolution to this effect some time ago.

“If you have any questions concerning this resolution, please contact me for clarification.”

It added: “It is most important that this resolution is followed as the board will not recognise any agreement made that ignores this resolution.”

The source said the ADPL contract had not followed the rules.

The source backed a hard-hitting report by Arlene Brock, then the Ombudsman, published in 2013 that said there had been “dazzling, infinite, relentless” maladministration at Hamilton’s City Hall.

The former One Bermuda Alliance administration stepped in that October and tore up the contract with ADPL.

Mr MacLean’s case went to an arbitration panel, but he later challenged the process and withdrew.

The Government made a successful petition to the courts in November 2017 to have the arbitration dropped.

Mr MacLean has since promised to bring a fresh case on constitutional grounds.