Former Tower Hamlets mayor Luftur Rahman declared bankrupt

Luftur Rahman, the former mayor of London's Tower Hamlets, has been declared bankrupt by the Individual Insolvency Service ahead of a court case for recovering legal costs following electoral fraud, according to a UK website www.wharf.co.uk.

It says Rahman has been found insolvent seven months after he was found guilty of electoral fraud.

A document from The Individual Insolvency Service, dated Nov 18 states “Mohammed Lutfur Rahman” is “currently bankrupt”, the website has said.

The news comes ahead of Lutfur Rahman's scheduled appearance in the High Court on Dec 1 in a legal battle over payment of legal costs, it added.

Rahman was stripped of office in April by an electoral court investigating the 2014 poll that returned him to power for a second term.

He protested his innocence throughout the High Court case, which was filed by four petitioners who all live in Tower Hamlets.

After he lost the case, the court ordered him to pay around £500,000 in legal costs.

Declaring him bankrupt would mean Luftur's debts are wiped out but it can have a long-term effect on his credit rating.

The controversial independent politician was elected twice to the office of mayor from the Bangladeshi-dominated area since 2010.

Last November, a government-commissioned investigation found evidence of financial irregularities and “cronyism” in his running of the London council.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report said the council handed out hundreds of thousands of pounds in public money to local bodies that were ineligible for the money.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles had dubbed Tower Hamlets "a rotten borough” and described Rahman as a “medieval monarch” steeped in a “culture of cronyism”.