Redbridge Ex-Councillor Jailed
This report comes from the East London and West Essex Guardian
A former councillor has been jailed and ordered to pay more than £28,000 back to Redbridge Council after committing electoral fraud.
Chaudhary Mohammed Iqbal, who was a Labour councillor for Loxford for more than two years, admitted in October that he gave a false address when applying to be councillor and later lied to the police.
He was today jailed for 68 weeks and must pay back £18,368 he received in expenses and £10,000 towards the cost of the by-election to replace him.
Iqbal, who actually lived in Cecil Avenue, Barking, at the time, pretended to live at a rental property in Ilford in order to run as a Redbridge councillor in the 2018 local elections.
He’s been naughty and he’s been caught, but what does that have to do with Newham. Just this. A number of Newham councillors have tenuous connections with the addresses which they have given to the council and the Labour Party as their place of residence.
There is of course the female councillor whose address is actually that of her sister, whilst she lives at address in NW London. And the male councillor who maintains properties in Newham, but lives with his wife and children in Ilford, IG1 3**. Or the councillor who lives with his family in East Ham, E13 9** but records his address in the constituency of West Ham.
Perhaps they should all begin to look for other opportunities, or start saving up what’s left of their expenses.
News has also reached us of a female representative in her 50s who doesn’t actually live with her parents and siblings in Forest Gate, but lives with her significant other, in Hackney. Clearly this is the base from which she puts Newham people at the heart of everything she does.
Nothing wrong with any of this, save that the Labour Party rules say you can’t live outside the borough that you represent. And declaring a residence connection when you have no residence, employment or property interest in the borough is clearly illegal.
As always, if we have got it wrong please let us know and we’ll correct it. If we have got it right, what will the Labour Party do about it?