Lloyds Bank Group has slammed claims it has been under political pressure to sell hundreds of branches to the Co-operative Group.The state-backed lender, which is required to sell its 632 branches as a condition of its 2008 taxpayer bailout, denied suggestions of ministerial interference in the controversial sale.Its choice to agreed to a sale with the Co-op was criticised after a capital shorfall of around £1.5bn was found in the mutual. It set off allegations politicians may have encouraged the decision.Co-op, however, withdrew its offer in April following the discovery of its poor finances. "What the board looked at was financial and the ability to execute (the sale). Those were the only two things we looked at, no political (pressure)," Lloyds Chairman Win Bischoff told a committee of parliamentarians on Tuesday, according to Reuters.The Treasury Select Committee questioned Lloyds executives on their decision to sell the branches to the Co-op rather than to a rival bidder NBNK.Peter Levene, former chairman of NBNK, said in written evidence to the committee there seemed to be political interference in favour of Co-op as the coalition government had wanted to promote the interests of mutuals in financial services.Levene said it had offered more money than the Co-op but had received "a number of messages indicating that there had been significant political involvement leading up to the original decision"."I was therefore advised that the decision was based on an indication from senior politicians within the coalition that the Co-op deal was to be the preferred and definitive solution," Levene said in a submission to the committee.However, Lloyds Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio rebutted the claims."I seriously contest that. The offer in the end was not substantially better ... we chose the best bid," he said.RD