Following the mayor’s (mostly failed) complaint to the PCC, it looks as though it’s Lutfur Rahman Week over at Andrew Gilligan’s Telegraph blog.
I’ll update the links on this post as and when Andrew releases more details, but I thought it would be a good idea to open up this blog for comments on his findings (the Telegraph blog is often clogged up by more ill-informed nutters than even this one).
Yesterday, he wrote about Cllr Shahed Ali’s tax affairs. It seems as though Shahed, who collects about £23,000 a year for being a cabinet member councillor in Tower Hamlets, might have engaged in that notorious Phoenix tactic of winding up one company and starting another…but leaving HM Revenues and Customs out of pocket to the tune of £25,000. When I tweeted this yesterday, Cllr Oli Rahman, who is also in Lutfur’s cabinet, replied:
Over £25 billion in public money is still owed to the tax payer. What did AG say about that?
I pointed out that Andrew had in fact written about it: that the £25billion is made up of these little pots of £25k. Oli has so far failed to respond to that.
Today, Wednesday, he has added more detail to the story that I broke here last week, that Helal Abbas had been suspended from the council following a complaint from IFE bigwig Hira Islam. Andrew has read Hira’s complaint…and reveals that Hira himslef was actually disciplined by the council last year.
Over to you.
Trial by Jeory 
Over to us, eh?
My take on it is that Lutfur and his political like have risen to position through exceedingly questionable means and are calculatedly profiteering from the situations they have created. They remain buoyed up on the support from those in their electorate whom they favour, who see nothing wrong in the self-serving nature of their politics.
The establishment is incapable of probing too deeply into their murky depths as it would be ‘politically incorrect’, meaning that a lot of questions remain unanswered. This establishment cannot address the issues head on; too many years of socialist New Labour government has left them without a spine to stand with. Organisations which attempt to tackle the issues openly are derided and pilloried (although, admittedly, the BNP/EDL don’t do much to help themselves, however it is interesting to see the poll gains that UKIP have made of late.)
Uncomfortable home truths remain that; truths which can only ever be told at home and never in public. The fact that so many members of Lutfur’s cronies have been subject to police investigation or have had charges against them in the past is telling about them individually, and that these are the ‘best of the best’ that can be chosen to run the local authority speaks volumes about their leader, their community, and their attitude to others. If I had such a history I would be ashamed to be seen in public; they seem to see such things as no bar to public office (as their concept of ‘shame’ and ‘honour’ is doubtless somewhat different to those of the country as a whole.)
To add to the general smelliness of the Lutfur administration is the fact that they cannot agree; the cabinet is constantly falling out, petty rivalries are rife and agreement is something that is very rarely reached. There isn’t even honour amongst thieves.
And it gets a bit tiresome, to be honest. Ted, you do (and have done) a very good job in providing a commentary on these shameful goings-on, for which I thank you. Andrew Gilligan does too and deserves the same. However only one thing about the Lutfur administration is of significant interest to me; when will the lies, hypocrisy, deceit and deception behind it all be brought out into the light, the truth be told and the whole miserable house of cards be brought crashing down?
Tim.
Andrew Gilligan is mainly a deranged hack and panders to a certain audience. It would seem to me that the PCC has given him a slap on the wrist for the deliberate smear attempts that he derives so much pleasure from.
Whatever the faults of Lutfur or Hira, and I suspect there are many, the opening description by Andrew Gilligan the Hira is an Islamic extremist is daft beyond belief. Which is why Mr Gilligan has no credibility at all, and why as you’ve pointed out his blog attracts so many sickening comment. We need decent reporting of the political goings on in Tower Hamlets, not that kind of disreputable excuse for journalism.
Ted, you must have encountered Hira many times, do you honestly think he is an Islamic extremist?
I think I’m right in saying that he is only using the “Islamic extremist” tag where there is a link with the IFE.
Given the (understandable) care involved in putting acceptable wording together on blog posts, I very much doubt he would say something that isn’t entirely defensible if bought under scrutiny.
And, out of pure curiosity, what would an Islamic extremist look like if you were to meet one?
Tim.
Ted yo also need to do an article on Lutfurs and his array of paid advisors in the council, its beyond belief
“Over £25 billion in public money is still owed to the tax payer. What did AG say about that?”
That councillor is utterly shameless, and utterly unfit to hold public office.