Lutfur Rahman, the independent mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and a solicitor, was yesterday found guilty of corruption and fraud.

In a 200 page judgment Richard Mawrey, The Election Commissioner, said that Rahman abused his position for his own aggrandisment and unjustly accused those who objected of being racist and Islamophobic. He and his supporters made false statements about other candidates and perpetrated various types of voter fraud. And, once he was in office, grants to charities such as The Alzheimers Society were cut in order to be diverted to Rahman's pet causes.

Mawrey said that the evidence fell just short of proving intimidation, but said he rejected the charge with "considerable misgiving" and described the behaviour of Rahman's supporters as "indefensible". He ordered that Rahman be immediately stripped of his position and added that he had "driven a coach and horses through local authority law – and he didn’t care".

    Rahman doing over his electorate yesterday

New elections will be held as soon as possible and Rahman will not be allowed to stand. He has already be ordered to pay £250,000 towards the cost of the hearing, and when the SRA gets round to it it he'll presumably be struck off too. A spokesman told RollOnFriday “we are awaiting the referral from the court to assess the information it has before deciding on the appropriate course of action”.

A spokesman for Rahman said that the 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. We are seeking further legal advice on the matter in relation to a judicial review."
 
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Comments

Anonymous 24 April 15 13:45

Utterly disgraceful. About time someone cleaned up the corrupt cesspit that is Tower Hamlets Council - good riddance to this bastard.

Roll On Friday 24 April 15 17:42

Mayor Rahman is obviously innocent, and this persecution is clearly an Islamophobic witch hunt.