Lutfur Rahman
Lutfur Rahman, the controversial former mayor of Tower Hamlets, has had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of assets frozen by a High Court judge after being found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices.
The former politician was ordered to disclose information about his income and expenditure by the judge after Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey found him guilty of wrongdoing three months ago.
He had already been stripped of his office, with his May 2014 election victory rendered null and void, but Rahman now faces having to pay half a million pounds in legal costs.
Lawyers for the group of four voters who filed the initial complaint against Rahman had made a series of allegations, including ‘”personation” in postal voting and at polling stations, and ballot paper tampering at the Election Court trial earlier this year.
Mr Rahman had said there was “little, if any’” evidence of wrongdoing against him. His lawyers described the group of four’s claims as invention, exaggeration and ‘”in some cases downright deliberately false allegations’”.
But Mr Justice Edis ordered Rahman to disclose income and expenditure going back five years and said assets to the value of £350,000 would be frozen.
The judge said Rahman should also disclose tax returns going back seven years.
Richard Mawrey, the election commissioner, had made a series of findings against Mr Rahman in April.
‘”The evidence laid before this court … has disclosed an alarming state of affairs in Tower Hamlets,’” he said.
”This is not the consequence of the racial and religious mix of the population, nor is it linked to any ascertainable pattern of social or other deprivation. It is the result of the ruthless ambition of one man.”
Mr Mawrey’s ruling meant a repeat mayoral election was held in Tower Hamlets, which was won by Labour’s John Biggs.
Rahman was also barred from running for office for five years.
