Lutfur Rahman, the former mayor of East London borough Tower Hamlets, was yesterday removed from office after being found guilty of electoral fraud offences including offering grants to charities in exchange for votes.
Among other offences, Rahman and his Tower Hamlets First team were found guilty of handing out council grants to local, Bengali-run charities in order to influence votes. The verdict was handed down on Thursday, after a 10-week hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Tower Hamlets was previously investigated over its grant-giving policy by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which concluded that the council broke its own guidelines but stopped short of saying that the law had been broken.
Rahman was re-elected in May 2014. Four local residents, led by Andrew Erlam, petitioned the Royal Courts of Justice to have the election set aside on several grounds in June 2014.
Judge Richard Mawrey QC, sitting as an Election Commissioner, heard the case this year and delivered his judgement yesterday.
He said:"Although stoutly denied by Mr Rahman’s partisans in evidence, the reality is that the focus of the Mayor and his cabinet became more and more on the Bangladeshi community. This perception was heightened by the policy adopted by Mr Rahman towards grants of Council money."
And concluded that: “It follows that the court is satisfied that the conduct of Mr Rahman and his agents in making grants does amount to the corrupt practice of bribery.”
The election will now be re-run and police have now said that they are looking into the matter. In April 2014 police said that there was no evidence of criminality.
Other offences
Rahman and his supporters were also found to have been involved in vote-rigging as well as intimidating and interfering with voters on the day of the election, including in the polling booths.
Judge Richard Mawrey QC also that Rahman had falsely accused his Labour rival, John Biggs of being a racist and had played “the race and Islamophobia card” throughout the election and its aftermath.
Rahman has been banned from standing in the re-run of the election and has been ordered to pay £250,000 in court costs.
Eric Pickles released a statement yesterday which said: "This judgment vindicates our action to intervene.
"The immediate priority of the Commissioners must be to ensure a free and fair election takes place on 7 May."
Tower Hamlets First statement
In a statement released yesterday, Tower Hamlets First expressed its “shock” at the verdict and claimed to be exploring further legal avenues.
“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.
“We are seeking further legal advice on the matter in relation to a judicial review.
“A more detailed statement clarifying our response will be released shortly.”
Previous investigation
An investigation into Tower Hamlets was opened by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in April 2014 after an episode of BBC Panorama alleged that Rahman and his supporters had diverted council grants away from other organisations to Bengali and Somali charities, in exchange for votes.
The investigation, conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), centred on the distribution of around £12m, across five major grant programmes from 25 October 2010 to 4 April 2014.
While the investigation concluded that Tower Hamlets council consistently ignored or overruled its own grantmaking guidelines when awarding grants to charities in the borough, PwC stopped short of saying that Rahman or Tower Hamlets First had acted illegally.
