A university vice-chancellor suspended last year over allegations of financial mismanagement and other misconduct has been sacked.
Prof George Holmes’s contract at the Bolton-based University of Greater Manchester was “ended by the governing body earlier this week,” the university said.
The 65-year-old, who was in post for 20 years, was suspended when the university commissioned an independent inquiry into allegations raised in an investigation by The Mill, external news outlet in 2025.
A Greater Manchester Police (GMP) investigation – which has made three arrests – was launched following “a report of the university’s Fraud Response Panel”, a GMP spokesman said.
The has been unable to contact Holmes for comment.
In July 2025 three people were arrested when police raided seven homes across the country as part of an investigation into “serious allegations of fraud and bribery” at the university.
Two men in their 60s and a woman in her 50s were held on suspicion of money laundering, while both men were also questioned on suspicion of fraud, and one of them on suspicion of bribery.
The force said at the time that it was “exploring evidence indicating over £1m of fraudulent activity” including 60 transactions and more than one million emails.