The long and expensive search for someone to run Tower Hamlets council…er..continued tonight after councillors decisively voted to defer a decision on what to do next.
At a grandly titled Extraordinary Meeting of Tower Hamlets Council, pretty much next-to-nothing happened.
Councillors had been due to set out a way forward after Tory and Labour councillors last month voted down the previous process, effectively blocking the proposal by Mayor Lutfur Rahman and his merry band of independents to appoint the Development and Regeneration Director Aman Dalvi, who, the last time I saw him reminded me of those plastic little ducks being fired at with bent guns at a dodgy fairground shootout.
But, of course, this being Tower Hamlets, nothing really didn’t happen. The reason they voted to defer a decision until another meeting on July 11 was because today, I understand, two legal notices were served on the council.
One, I’m told, was served by Lutfur Independent Councillor Kabir Ahmed.
Apparently, he has served a pre-action notice of intention to launch a Judicial Review of the failed appointment process. This action, as I understand it, would be against the council, which would mean taxpayers like me and you liable for any costs.
I’ve no idea who is funding Kabir’s action: his latest register of interests from November 2011 show him employed by the Bangladesh Youth Movement, so I doubt he would qualify for legal aid. Perhaps he feels he is wealthy enough to risk such an action, which has apparently named Aman as an interested party.
As for the second legal process, I’m told that is being filed by a senior council officer. I’ve been given the name, but I’m not yet 100 per cent sure it is right. I’ll update this post when I am.
It’s a bit like the last days of the Roman Empire at Mulberry Place at the moment…but without the fun.
Trial by Jeory 
It very much appears as if no decent external candidate will ever come forward to interview for the role of Chief Executive while Tower Hamlets councillors continue to bring this Council into disrepute. There are very few Chief Officers who are willing to walk into the quicksand created by the current Mayor following the exit of Martin Smith.
Which means that if an internal candidate is appointed he or she runs the risk of never being regarded as properly validated as CEO – or the best candidate for the job – if his or her candidacy has not been tested against the best of the rest outside Tower Hamlets.
So whatever happens it looks like we run the risk of getting a second-rate CEO on a very large salary. Which is hardly good value for money. Nor what we need given the self-indulgent and inappropriate behaviour of some of the Councillors in this borough.
Let’s not forget that this is the Council who paid off – with a very large sum of our money – a perfectly competent and able CEO who became CEO of a larger London Borough (Ealing) within a short space of time – so no doubts about his competence to do the job effectively!
Can we petition for a vote of ” no confidence” in the Council and ask for our money back?
Or maybe we could ask for the publication of the damning report to the Council by the Audit Commission concerning the exit of Martin Smith?
For those who need reminding….http://www.lgcplus.com/denham-call-for-probe-on-ceo-pay-offs/5005608.article
Quoted in various publications
A look at the Charity Commission site for BYM reveals that its main funder is Tower Hamlets Council.
Cllr Kobir wasnt able to get on the cabnet with an allowance, so cllrs kabir ahmed and Aminur Khan are paid via BYM.
its all easy to doin Tower Hamlets
Let us not worry too much about all this right now…Eric Pickles is coming to the rescue and the long drawn out suicide of this particular council will come to an end. Amen
Saviour of Tower Hamlets, ” Eric the Pickelman”,
we await your arrival Mr Pickles, as you did in Doncaster.
I think that the truth is that BYM do sod all work and the money is just diverted to the pockets of Lutfur’s chamchars. It will be interesting to see which solicitors are used for the action. Could they be the same ones as Aman Dalvi?
Sorry David,
But to see middle-class people sniggering at the potential of Tory asset-stripper Eric Pickles interfering with the local council makes me physically sick.
You’ve got a council that pays its workers the living wage, has reinstated EMA, builds new council houses and is going to offer you a cheaper, municipal alternative to British Gas and EDF. Perhaps people should be grateful for that?
Oh no, they’d much rather make trouble and moan about the temerity of local councillors who wanted to appoint a black man to be the chief executive (I know, the nerve of it!! Where do they think they are, a third world country?)
It’s a pre-action notice that has been served. If there’s no case, it won’t cost a penny. If the council has to pay out, that means that it has broken the law and of course it should face the consequences, as should anyone who has broken the law.
(On that note, Josh was so outspoken about Shelina, having been arrested – not convicted, that came later – needing to resign from the council. Why hasn’t he demanded Kosru step down for his attack on a woman? I presume he’s been suspended from the Labour group. Has he, Ted?)
David, if you’re so gleeful Eric Pickles and his asset-strippers, why don’t you bugger off to Brent or Wandsworth which they already have their greasy fingers all over, where they don’t do meals on wheels and you have to pay to go to the toilet in libraries. You’d love it there. Meanwhile, we can enjoy public services in peace.
I think the remarks about Shelina came after her first conviction, ie when it was already known she was a benefits cheat.
However, there is nothing to prevent Josh suspending Kosru pending this investigation: arguably, the precedent is Lord Ahmed’s current suspension and Denis MacShane’s.
The precedent is that the Regional party suspends a councillor’s membership as soon as they are arrested, no matter what the local party thinks. It happens everywhere else.
Help us Eric. You’re our only hope.
PS – the Muhib Restaurant on “world class” Brick Lane was operating quite as normal tonight with the staff adamant that it “wasn’t under new management” and the stories about it “totally false”. So much for the place being shut down by health inspectors. Local curry-touts ever a fruitful source of information assured us that the stories weren’t false and that they were still open “because the council needs the money”, whatever that may mean.
For those unsure what the fuss is about, see here: http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/?news_id=29488
Tom, Eric ic coming, and boy do we need him to save us from all this, the Mayor should give out all the freebies, before he does come.
Tom, at least they provide toilets in Brent and Wandsworth. Here the coucil has sold off toilets to drug dealers and instead provide – for hundreds of thousands of visitors – two lousy portaloos that are never cleaned. Ever. Not even the street food vendors in Brick Lane have any hand washing facilities. How’s that for the 21st Century Curry Capital. It is shameful. Tower Shamelets!
Well this is a start:
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/boris_johnson_calls_in_spitalfields_fruit_and_wool_exchange_application_1_1418005
Over to you now Eric!
He’s updated his register of interests on the 19th June, apparently he isn’t employed anymore.
Breakfast with Eric, compliment to Ted:
http://www.estatesgazette.com/blogs/jackie-sadek/2012/06/a-towering-obstacle-looms-over-the-east-end.html
Ha! How very nice. See, I am neutral…
An “extraordinary meeting” of Tower Hamlets Council would be one where something useful happened… so this meeting was in-ordinary
I can almost here the thud, thud, thud of Erik the Blue approaching…
Itchy2000uk. In English please?
Kabir Ahmed’s register of interests, as of the 19th of June, indicates that he isn’t employed by the Bangladeshi Youth Movement.
Click to access Kabir-Ahmed-7.pdf
Is that adequate enough for you?
Come on Kabir what’s an educated and talented guy like you doing supporting Lutfur Rahman. Don’t let this cretin ruin your life even more than he has done so. Get yourself back into academia – where there is much honour and fulfilment.
This of course was after the news that he was working for BYM. I left a post that disappeared that questioned where he was getting an income from in order to pursue his legal action unless he is the front man and someone else is stumping up.
Hello Ted, just a quick comment for now.
First, sources close to Lutfur Rahman tell me that he forced Aman to take action against the Authority. Becuase Aman knew that once he goes down the Tribunal route he will never get a job anywhere else. If he was forced, then so much for the any doubts that anyone had that Lutfur Rahman was there to serve the people.
Interestingly, Lutfur Rahman and his inept sidekick, Ohid Ahmed, are back together again after a short seperation. Yes the’ve both flown off to the States with Shazid the IFE side implant on the Mayors rear hemisphere. A little analysis of this latest development suggests that while Lutfur Rahman and Alibor his defacto Deputy despise and detest Ohid they have decided that they need Ohid up until the 2014 Mayoral elections, at which point Lutfur Rahman win or lose they will no doubt drop him. But ofcourse the deal is if he wins – Ohid will be backed by Rahman to fight Rushnara. Well i think Lutfur Rahman will lose and he himself will stand as an independent and lose against Rushnara. So much for Ohid making up with Lutfur. By the who’s paying for the trip? Part two to follow.
Forget the useless Ohid, I hear that the Mayor and his team have fallen out with mujib from media link. He apparently became a bit too greedy and wanted deals after deals. Should be interesting when the details of the poplar high street property comes out! Interesting developments I say
@beeza
Poplar High Street? What property? Only council building that comes to mind that may be vacant, is the former Poplar Town Hall and Council Offices at No. 117, also a Listed Building. Is this the property you mean?
I agree with the last two posts that the wheels seem to be coming off the wagon. The problem with Lutfur and co is that the ability to rig and buy votes doesn’t mean competency in running a borough and that is where the coalition is falling apart.
Lutfoon. Lutfur Rahman was dropped by the Labour Party NEC as mayoral candidate for Tower Hamlets because an investigation revealed that he had packed the list of Labour Party members in the borough with non existent people.
His own sister’s flat at xxx Hanbury St had her and two other people registered there when in fact the flat was let to someone else and had been for eighteen months.
This matter was widely reported in the press at the time and the current scandal of vote rigging is under investigation by the police.
Terry, you know that wasn’t why he was dropped by the Labour Party NEC. He was dropped cos your friend, Abbas (btw what does he think of the fact that you’re a convicted racist now? A far cry from fighting the fash on Brick Lane, eh?), took a dossier, filled with lies, half-truths and innuendo, laced with gossip, and topped up with rumours, to the NEC, who made a decision based on that. Shame on him and shame on that NEC.
The investigation that you’re referring to found that 12.2% of the THLP members weren’t registered on the electoral roll at the address the party had for them. Given that 18% of eligible voters in Inner London aren’t actually registered to vote, the high levels of population movement and the demographics that we’re talking about, it’s not surprising that some people in THLP won’t (yet) be on the electoral register or won’t have had time to update their electoral registration.
Whitevan man, you’re right ofcourse about the propensity about Rahmans misdimeanors in Labour Party memberships, voting irregularities especially postal votes. But you see, the moral compass has shifted so much for these people but they are unable distinguish between – right and wrong. So, they feel anything goes.
Stephen Hammond, the Conservative MP for Wimbledon, has written to Lamberto Zannier, secretary general of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. He has appealed for a team to examine voting in Tower Hamlets for evidence of fraud.
As the Evening Standard reports:
OSCE missions are usually sent to struggling democracies such as Kosovo and Kazakhstan but have monitored past UK general elections. Asking them to investigate Tower Hamlets is a clear snub to the Electoral Commission, the official watchdog of fair voting.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar & Limehouse, which covers half the borough backed the plea.
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/05/mps-call-for-international-observers-to-investigate-tower-hamlets-vote-rigging.html