Paul Flowers, the former chairman of Britain's embattled Co-operative Bank, was fined today after admitting possession of cocaine and crystal meth.
The 63-year-old clergyman pleaded guilty at a magistrates court in northern England. He admitted two counts of possession of Class A drugs - considered the most harmful category - namely cocaine and methamphetamine.
He also admitted possession of ketamine, a drug in the lowest category, Class C.
Flowers was fined £400 and ordered to pay £125 in court costs.
He stepped down as Co-op Bank chairman in June last year after reported claims of illegal drug use and concerns about his expenses.
He also resigned as a Methodist Church minister days before his arrest in November, following the exposure of his involvement in a drug deal.
The court heard how Flowers, who admitted the offences in police interviews, was filmed handing over £300 for the drugs in a car in the northern city of Leeds.
Earlier today, former Treasury minister Lord Paul Myners laid out his plans for saving the wider Co-operative Group, but suggested traditionalists would spurn the necessary reforms.
The ailing food-to-funerals mutual group last month reported annual losses of £2.5 billion and faced near-collapse last year, having to be rescued by bondholders.
"I have myself witnessed repeated instances where there has been denial of responsibility, corrosive suspicion, deliberate delay and a practice of hiding behind 'values' in order to deflect or stifle criticism and protect self-interest," Myners said in his damning report.
