Police consider criminal inquiry on ex-Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman

London police are considering a criminal inquiry on former Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman who was kicked out from office on Thursday for corruption and illegal practices during his 2014 re-election.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 24 April 2015, 04:56 AM
Updated : 24 April 2015, 08:11 PM

In a statement immediately after the court order, Metropolitan Police said they had noted the judgment and would consider the 200-page report of their investigation into allegations of electoral fraud and corruption against Rahman last April.

They had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

They would require approval from the Crown Prosecution Service under the UK system to launch the inquiry.

The results of Rahman’s re-election of the east London borough in 2014 was declared ‘void’ by Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey, who sat as a judge in the special High Court hearing.

Rahman, who denied wrongdoings, has been barred from contesting elections again.

“He was an evasive witness – Rahman was no doubt behind illegal and corrupt practices,” Mawrey was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

He said the evidence laid before this court “disclosed an alarming state of affairs in Tower Hamlets” which was the “result of the ruthless ambition” of Rahman.

“The real losers in this case are the citizens of Tower Hamlets,” Mawrey added.

Thursday’s ruling declared Rahman’s re-election as mayor on May 22, 2014 “void – that is to say, it is as if it had never taken place”.

Rahman’s party Tower Hamlets First had no bank account and its financial affairs were dubbed “wholly irresponsible and at worst, dishonest”.

It was also accused of organising controversial fundraising function that the tribunal accepted “with a large pinch of salt”.

When asked about the party’s constitution during the trial, Rahman said there was none. But later he said he had left everything to Alibor Choudhury, the party’s treasurer.

Rahman played the "race" and "religious" cards to gain ground against Labour Party rival John Biggs, said Election Commissioner Mawrey to outline his conclusion.

The first Muslim elected mayor in Britain ran a "ruthless and dishonest campaign” to convince electorate his rival Labour candidate John Biggs was a racist.

“No rational person could think Mr Biggs was a racist – it was a deliberate and dishonest campaign. Rahman and Choudhary are personally guilty,” said the judge.

The judgment also found Rahman to be the first person since the 19th century to be found guilty of the misdeed of unlawful religious influence, reports the Guardian.

As the then mayor campaigned for re-election, local Muslims were told “that it was a religious duty to vote for Mr Rahman”, the judge said.

A Bengali newspaper, the Weekly Desh, allegedly published a letter signed by 101 Islamic leaders, which “intended to have undue influence on the Muslim population of the borough”.

During the hearing, the court reportedly heard evidence from a handwriting expert that hundreds of ballot papers carried marks suggesting they could have been filled out by the same person.

Guardian also reported that the judge had pointed out police’s failure to spot obvious intimidation on election day. He also suggested that “an unkind person might remark that the policemen … had appeared to take as their role model the legendary Three Wise Monkeys”.

The judge handed down his verdict on Thursday after a 10-week hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice.

A UK lawyer told bdnews24.com: “It could possibly be the longest trial in UK post World War II.”

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, Biggs told the Guardian that the ruling was “a victory for honest politics”.

However, Ken Livingstone, a former London mayor, said he was not at ease with a court’s ability to remove an elected mayor. “If there is any illegality, then surely that’s a matter for the police.

“I’m uneasy that a mayor who has taken on the political powers in a borough can be removed by someone who is essentially a bureaucrat. What I don’t understand is why he [Mawrey] found evidence of corruption that the police have so far failed to identify.”

The Bangladesh-born politician was banned from contesting any more elections and ordered to vacate his post immediately.

The court also slapped a £250,000-fine on Lutfur and convicted Alibor Choudhury, his Cabinet Member for Resources, of illegal practices.

“Today’s judgment has come as a shock – the mayor strongly denies any wrongdoing and had full confidence in the justice system, and so this result has been surprising to say the least ” - was Lutfur’s reaction posted on his website.

Rahman’s party ‘Tower Hamlets First’ told the BBC they were seeking legal advice for a judicial review against the ‘shocking’ judgment.

The election commissioner, however, said Tower Hamlets First was "never really a party but the alter ego of Lutfur Rahman".

Lutfur was dragged to court by four voters who accused him of running a systematic campaign of intimidation. He was also accused of bribing religious groups, tampering with ballot papers, fraud in postal voting and also at polling stations.

The group of voters led by Andy Erlam filed a 70-page dossier in August last year.

Azmal Hussain, a petitioner who told the Guardian that he would have lost his Brick Lane businesses if they had lost the case, dismissed concerns that the judgment would be seen as racist.

“The people who have really suffered are ordinary people of all races who were supposed to accept corruption because it comes from someone claiming to be against racism. It is corruption, pure and simple, and it should be challenged,” he was quoted as saying.

In November, UK Local Government Minister Eric Pickles ordered a government-commissioned investigation that found evidence of financial irregularities in the Tower Hamlets council.

Three administrators were appointed to keep the local government department informed. It also found a “lack of transparency" in the process of awarding grants.

The probe had accused Rahman of 'inappropriate expenditure' of public funds on his political advertisements.

But Rahman rejected all evidence of fraud.

It is widely alleged that Rahman received funding and support from the Jamaat-e-Islami, whose activities are headed in the UK by Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin.

Mueen-Uddin is a death-row fugitive convicted of murdering Bengali intellectuals during the Liberation War.

The Al-Badr operative from 1971 garners much of Jamaat’s funds from a strong support base centred at East London Mosque, it is also alleged.

Andrew Gilligan, senior journalist for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, dubbed Rahman as ‘an extremist-linked mayor’ in his blog.

Gilligan also accused him of ‘religious favouritism’ and taking 'close help from Islamic extremists' to win as Labour councillor of Tower Hamlets in 2008.

He later stood against the official mayor candidate of the party as an independent in 2010 and came to be the first Bangladeshi to hold the post.

He launched ‘Tower Hamlets First’ for contesting in the borough, six months before the 2014 election.

An independent social democrat, Rahman was elected in last year’s May by a margin of 3,000 votes.

Tower Hamlets has the largest concentration of Bangladeshis in the UK, a total of 32 percent.